"This is Kathy Liu, coming to you live from just outside Jump City Central Park where tonight the Teen Titans are hosting their much-publicized gala at the famous Shepherd's Rest inn. Despite only being announced last week, and the ongoing conflict with the Titans former teammates, the gala seems to have become the social event of the season! Everyone who's anyone in Jump City is here, showing their support for our hometown heroes! We'll be making our own entrance a little later in the evening, since the Titans have insisted that no press be admitted to the park until ten pm. But don't worry- once the clock strikes ten, JCTV will be running a live special to take you on a guided tour of Jump City's most exclusive party- hosted by yours truly so don't miss it! Back to you, Tom!"

"And Cut!" the director called. "Nice report Kathy!"

"Yeah, well, it'd be better if the brats had actually bothered to let us in to see the party start." Kathy grumbled, lighting a cigarette as she let the perky smile drop from her face. "Typical. They get a little bad press, and suddenly every reporter's their enemy."

"It was more than a little bad press, Kath." Her director pointed out, as the camera crew started packing up. "The big news boys tore into them something fierce for a while there. All that stuff about them turning evil, needing oversight… it got pretty nasty."

"So tell me, how's making us wait outside for two hours supposed to help the get good PR? Anyway, I can't help but wonder what kinda party a bunch of teenaged superheroes are gonna throw for the cream of California society. Can't imagine it's the sort of thing they're used to. I'd love to see how the old money families and Hollywood types react." Kathy said wistfully gazing at the restaurant in the distance.

In fact, the gala was going very well indeed. Starfire had paid a great deal of attention to the Wayne charity ball in Gotham, and found she understood extraordinarily little of what had gone on. Why serve food by the mouthful rather than in satisfying portions? Why eat while moving around the room? What was the meaning of the special suits worn by the men? Was the music meant to be danced to or simply to be heard? To answer her questions, she had sought out Alfred the next day and asked the butler for help. As a result of that long ago discussion, she had a fair amount of knowledge regarding high society behavior. As a result, she had thrown together a very impressive party in a short amount of time.

The garden behind the Shepherd's Rest had been rented for the night and was decorated with soft lights hanging from the trees as well as the standard outdoor lights. She had engaged a fancy band to provide soft music to help set the mood and to help the guests relax. Cyborg had chosen a caterer known for their haute cuisine and reliable service, so uniformed waiters circulated through the garden carrying plates covered in exquisitely crafted hors d'oeuvres. Even the staidest member of high society would have to admit that the party was a pleasant, dignified affair thrown by a group of surprisingly well-bred young people.

The Titans helped this impression by circulating among their guests. Starfire and Robin moved through the various groups, doing what the Boy Wonder referred to as a 'meet-greet-and-gauge'. He made sure that he and Starfire met each and every guest, exchanged a few words, and surreptitiously made sure they were not Slade or his team. Robin played the role of a professional but friendly hero- mixing his normal Robin persona with just a touch of Bruce Wayne's infamous Fop charm. Starfire fell back on her royal training, greeting each guest warmly yet maintaining a sense of distance between them. Between the two of them, they left the city's upper crust in awe.

Cyborg, meanwhile, seemed to take a more personal approach. Rather than talking to everyone, he moved between a dozen or so people, chatting with each then moving on to the next in a repeating pattern. Most of the guests assumed the metal man (known for being a bit shy at formal gatherings) was probably just staying close to people he already knew. The truth was, Cyborg was a key part of the night's security. Each of his 'friends' was actually a member of the JCPD's undercover division, chosen by the commissioner to help keep an eye out for Slade and to perform an extremely specific task when the time came. Cyborg went from one agent to the next, hearing their reports and reminding them of their place in the plan.

Finally, Terra circled around the edges of the party- as the least well-known of the Titans, she wasn't in high demand among the guests. She did speak to those people who mustered up the courage to talk to her, but few did. LexNews had dug up some footage of Terra's work for Slade and had used it to cast doubt on her loyalty and the team's competence. Although she hadn't heard anything too negative yet, she hadn't heard any outbursts of support either. Some people seemed to actively shy away from her, which hurt a little more than she'd expected it to. Still, it gave her time and freedom to carry out her own task. She surreptitiously (or as surreptitiously as she could in full costume) moved around the garden, checking their preparations, and tweaking where necessary.

Though they appeared to be enjoying themselves, the young heroes were tense. It wasn't a question of IF Slade would make a move- the media hype and star-studded guestlist made the gala a target the mercenary couldn't afford to overlook. The question was would they be ready when he attacked? Keeping the media out until 10 would, hopefully, give the Titans time to be ready. After all, Slade's whole goal was to make the Titans appear incompetent and untrustworthy- it seemed likely he'd wait until the cameras were rolling to make his big move.

As it turned out, they were right.

Slade had immediately known that the gala was a trap, that the Titans had set the whole thing up to lure him and his team to a place where the Titans would have a strong advantage. That left him with two problems. The first was that Starfire had been right- he really couldn't just ignore this. If the Titans gala went off without a hitch, with all the power-players and celebrities in attendance, it would undo all his hard work. The Titans would have plenty of good press, enough to outweigh all the negative coverage his SladeForce had generated. So, clearly, he had to do something. The second problem was that he didn't know why, exactly, the Titans were doing this now. Robin was no fool- he wouldn't have gone through with a plan this risky unless he had a significant edge, one large enough to guarantee a victory. With his resources curtailed, his informants gone and the Titans maintaining tight security over the event, he had no way to find out what that advantage was. Slade reluctantly concluded that he and his team would have to go in blind- a decision that flew in the face of decades of military experience, but one he couldn't see a way around.

But blind didn't mean unprepared. If he had to go in unready for what the Titans had planned, then he could at least be sure that the Titans would be equally off balance. To that end, he'd turned to the one resource his team possessed that the Titans lacked: magic. He'd had a long talk with Raven, seeking some way that her sorcery could give them an edge. The trouble was that Raven's style of magic was highly ritualized- in order to cast a spell, she generally needed a great deal of time and preparation, meaning she couldn't rely on it in the heat of combat. But she COULD use it to give them an edge beforehand. A simple illusion spell was enough to turn the SladeForce into an unremarkable group of journalists, with perfectly legitimate seeming credentials, from Redwood City's Mercury News. Once the media were cleared for entry, they joined the crowd that surged into the party.

Originally, the plan had been to kidnap some VIPs to use as hostages- having the most important people at the party snatched in front of the press would be enough to overturn the Titans recent PR coup. Unfortunately, the Titans had thought of this too, and all members of the press were told to keep their distance from the other guests while at the party. Ostensibly, this was to ensure the privacy of the partygoers and keep the evening fun for everyone, but the effect was that the Sladeforce could not approach their targets without revealing themselves. That left plan B.

"Surprise!" Beastboy crowed, tossing off his holoring to reveal himself just as he shifted into a green lion. He sprang into the middle of a crowd, expecting them to panic, to scatter, to give him a chance to snatch up someone important or at the very least to disrupt the rest of the room. If they couldn't snatch up a VIP, turning the party to a chaotic mess wasn't a bad second prize. Instead of panicking, however, the civilians split into two groups and quickly backed away from him and headed for the exits. They moved so smoothly, so calmly, that Beastboy realized they had been prepared for this- and if the civilians were ready for them, then the Titans must be even more so. Before he could warn his teammates, a metal hand closed around his tail and hurled him away. Even before he landed, Beastboy was already shifting into a gorilla form to ready himself to battle Cyborg once more.

Raven, meanwhile, flew wearily ahead to engage Starfire. She didn't want to- she hated battling her best friend- but the alien princess was powerful enough to disrupt all their plans. To her surprise, Starfire rocketed past her to land a thunderous punch on Batgirl. The former vigilante quickly recovered thanks to her new armor and was soon dueling with her attacker. Deciding that the pair were evenly matched, and that no other Titan was moving to engage her, Raven glanced about the area to see where she might be most helpful.

Cyborg and Beastboy were engaged in their usual brawl, with the usual resulting stalemate. Cyborg was unable to land a decisive blow on the agile changeling, while Beastboy was unable to damage his metallic opponent. Raven's first instinct was to intervene there, but she checked herself- she knew that her desire to step in and help her boyfriend was an emotional one, not a reasoned one. Beastboy would be fine on his own for now- he and Cyborg were too evenly matched for either of them to win a quick victory. Better for her to leave him for now, and see who else needed her aid.

Instead, her eyes drifted over to where Robin and Slade were dueling. Well, she supposed it was more accurate to say that Robin was dueling Slade, as her leader seemed to be trying to escape. He seemed more interested in parrying or blocking Robin's attacks than striking any of his own, and every so often he would attempt to break away. So far, the Boy Wonder had managed to catch him each time, but with a little help, Slade would be able to defeat Robin and tip the rest of the battle their way. But something was wrong with the whole battle, and the empath felt like smacking herself in the head for not noticing it sooner.

Where was Terra?

Looking around, Raven could see no sign of the blonde geokine. That was something of a relief, Raven had to admit. Though she agreed with Slade that Terra was simply too powerful and too dangerous to be allowed to run around Jump City, she still didn't want to see the other girl die. If the Titans had left her behind, or if she had simply decided to leave town... well, it made things a lot simpler. Raven readied herself, using her telekinesis to set her combat orbs into motion when she was stopped cold by a yell of surprise coming from below her.

The earth beneath Slade's feet had suddenly begun to ooze upward, enveloping his legs and rising quickly. Within a hardbeat, the one-eyed mercenary was encased up to his neck in a pillar of compacted earth and stone. Raven could see the veins bulging in his neck, as Slade attempted to break free, an effort he redoubled as Terra rose from the earth beside him, and casually rested a hand on his prison.

"Y'know, Slade, when we first started working together, I wondered about your costume. I mean, all that orange on a guy whose supposed to be all stealthy? But now that I get a better look at it, I gotta say…" Terra grinned "You look good in earth tones."

Floating overhead, Raven was unsure what she should do. She could fly down and engage Terra, but Robin would immediately attack her. She knew she was powerful, but she also knew her limits- and fighting two Titans at once was beyond them. Alternatively, she could use her telekinesis to free Slade from his prison, but that would require her to match her psychic power against Terra's geokinesis, and that wasn't a fight she was certain she could win. It also left Robin free to intervene, which put her right back where she started.

"Good work, Terra!" Robin said, eliminating her whole dilemma. "I'll go help the others!"

As the Boy Wonder raced away, Slade spotted Raven hovering above him and called out "Don't just float there! HELP ME!"

Before Raven could shake herself into action, Terra levitated the earth beneath her and flew away. Raven gave chase, and soon overtook her blonde opponent. Clustering all her telekinetic orbs together, Raven launched them at the geokine's ride. The mound of dirt exploded under the impact, sending Terra tumbling to the ground. She landed well, rolling as she made contact with the ground, and tried to continue to flee on foot. Unfortunately, while she was Raven's equal in flight speed, Terra was significantly slower on foot. Raven easily caught her and hurled the blonde to the ground with her bare hands- using her orbs would have risked seriously injuring her or even knocking her out, making it that much harder to get Slade free. Swooping down, Raven seized Terra by the arms, holding her in place. She spun the other girl around so they were face-to-face and pulsed a bit of demonic power to make her eyes glow blood red.

"Let him go." She said, her voice somehow conveying a threat despite being completely monotone.

Terra looked Raven squarely in the eyes and simply said "Are you so eager to kill me?"

The question shocked the red from Raven's eyes and stunned her to her core. "I wouldn't ever- I couldn't-"As the empath stammered a response, she heard the lights around her burst one by one. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself into calm, wrestling her wild emotions back under control. "I'm not going to kill you. I swore long ago that I would not kill."

"No?" Terra challenged. "You're forcing me to release Slade when there's no one at hand between him and me. What do you think he was trying to do to me at our last fight- give me a haircut with that sword of his? If I let him go, he'll kill me and you know it."

"That's… not the same." Raven replied, and even she could hear how half-hearted she sounded.

"Why? Because it won't be your hand on the blade?" Terra sneered. "It'll still be because of you. Here I thought demons would at least have the courage to do their own killing."

"Do NOT call me a demon." Raven said, her voice cold as ice. "Not after everything you've done."

"You mean working with Slade against the Titans? Oh, yeah. I can see why you'd think that was an unforgiveable crime"

Raven flinched at that, but forced her voice to remain level. "This is different. This is about something bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than any of us. "

"Well, then, if you really believe that's true, you should be willing to do the job yourself." With a sudden shift, Terra tore her arms free and grabbed Raven's hands before pulling them up to wrap around her neck. "There we go. If you're so sure Slade's goal is worth my life, then do it. All you have to do is squeeze. Go for it."

Raven yanked her hands away as if they were burnt, falling off Terra to land on her backside in the dirt. Even that didn't seem to be enough, as she scooted away from the blonde.

At that moment, Slade called out to her. Seeing her indecision, he tried to be encouraging. "Raven, you have to take her out! She's too dangerous and we'll be defeated if I don't get free!"

Unfortunately for Slade, though he meant his words to be encouraging, to set Raven into action, all they really did was increase her desperate confusion. Her mind was spinning, incompatible thoughts chasing themselves around her brain. She could almost feel them, whipping around inside her skull and making her dizzy.

'Slade's right, she's too dangerous. But Azar taught me to never kill. But the city's in danger! But she's no threat! Slade gave an order! Should I obey that kind of order? Lives could be in danger because of her. One life is in danger because of me. I'm not so weak that she can escape. I'm not my father to kill without qualm. I should- I won't- I must- I can't…'

A sudden, searing pain erupted in Raven's head, and she let out a throat-burning scream, before pitching forward into unconsciousness. A tiny wisp of smoke escaped from one ear.

Terra scrabbled over to the fallen empath and slapped a pair of handcuffs on her. In all honesty, she didn't think they'd do much if Raven woke up, but it was symbolically important. Plus, it'd be a clear sign for the police officers that she was pacified and ready for transport to the Tower. That done, she glanced around the battlefield to see how everyone was faring.

As expected, Starfire and Robin had Batgirl on the ropes. Batgirl had used every trick she had, every scrap of her martial arts training and every gadget Slade had given her, but it wasn't enough. The Tameranian princess was simply too powerful for her- too strong, too fast, and too tough for Batgirl to realistically defeat. Even with her power-armor enhanced strength, she couldn't damage her opponent, and Starfire's alien anatomy meant that Batgirl's knowledge of pressure points was worthless. The vigilante was reduced to dodging and weaving around their attacks, displaying phenomenal skill but unable to launch any strikes of her own. It was only a matter of time before she made a mistake, so she was no threat. Slade remained trapped in his earthen prison, glaring at her murderously with his one eye. No threat there, either.

Beastboy and Cyborg, however, were locked in their eternal stalemate. 'Time to change that' she thought.

"Hey, Cy!" she called "I've got Raven captured! You take care of Beas…"

That was as far as she got. A green panther pounced on her, driving her back to the ground before shifting into a green teen. "What did you do to Raven?" Beastboy growled.

"I asked her not to kill me." Terra replied honestly.

"What? Raven wouldn't…" Now it was Beastboy's turn to be interrupted, as a metal fist crashed into the back of his head. The changeling flew several feet, crashing down into a table of hors d'oeuvres. He lay, unconscious, in a pile of fancy foods. Cyborg, meanwhile, rubbed his metal knuckles.

"Damn, I think the little greenbean actually dented my fist with his head." Cyborg said wonderingly. "Not gonna lie, that felt better than I'd like. Best friend or not, he's been givin' me the runaround for months now."

"You can apologize to him when he wakes up. " Terra said. "Should we go help Starfire and Rob with Batgirl?"

"No need." Robin said as he strolled up. Behind him Starfire floated through the air, an unconscious Batgirl slung over one shoulder. The masked girl had obviously put up a ferocious fight, as could be seen in Starfire's singed uniform and Robin's bloodied nose, but she hadn't really had a chance against both of them. Robin looked down at Raven on the ground and then over to the table where Beastboy lay. He let out a low whistle. "I guess your plan worked."

"I guess it did." Terra replied with a smile, as her mind flashed back to the night she first explained the plan to the Titans…

"Okay, so you know the old story about hypnotism? The one that says that a person can't be hypnotized into doing something that's against their nature?" Terra began, struggling to put her freshly-conceived plan into words.

"Yeah, I've heard it. It's pretty much nonsense" Robin said with a frown. "With the right sort of mind-control, you can force anyone to do pretty much anything. It might drive them insane later, but most of the villains who use those techniques really don't care about that."

"Right, but the thing is, I don't think Slade is using anything that extreme. Beastboy saved those people from the fire when they were trying to lay low, then both he and Raven helped against Mumbo and his goons when they could have made their escape. Then there's what happened at the party- when Slade was trying to kill me and I escaped, Beastboy had a chance to stop me but didn't take it. I think that Slade's left a lot of flexibility in his control. Beastboy and Raven are still able to do what they think is right, even when it's pretty obviously against Slade's interests."

"Why would he do this?" Starfire asked. "Would it not be safer to simply turn our friends into his slaves?"

"I don't know, Star." Terra answered "But when I was… when we worked together, Slade was always going on about initiative. He said that he expected me to follow orders, but also to take advantage of opportunities on my own. Maybe that's what he wanted here."

"Maybe." Robin mused "But then again, turning the others into obvious puppets wouldn't really serve his goals, would it? It'd be hard to sell the idea that the Titans were turning bad if they were clearly under someone else's control. We'd be able to deflect all criticism by just pointing out the obvious. So they've got some degree of free will- where are you going with this, Terra?"

"My point is that their morals and boundaries probably still exist, they've just been adjusted or something by Slade. " Terra replied "I think that there are still some things they won't do, even if Slade ordered them to. Beastboy refusing to help Slade finish me tells me that killing is probably one of them. If we put them in a situation where they'll HAVE to kill to fulfill Slade's orders, then it might break his hold over them, or at the very least it'll leave them open to an attack."

"So lemme get this straight. Your 'plan' is to put the guys working for the heartless mercenary into a perfect position to kill you?" Cyborg summarized skeptically.

"Yeah, pretty much." Terra admitted. "I know it sounds stupid, but everything I've seen from them so far makes me think it'll work. I'll start with Raven- she's got the most self-control and probably the strongest morals of the three, what with the whole 'rebelling against her demonic heritage' thing."

"What if you are incorrect? What if Slade has increased the strength of his control over our friends?" Starfire asked.

"Well, then, I'll have to hope one of you guys can save my butt. Or run screaming for my life. Y'know, the usual plan." Terra said with false cheer. "So, what do you think of my plan?"

Robin slumped back in his chair and put his head in his hands. "You were right. I don't like it."

"But do you think it would work?" Terra pressed.

"Yes." Robin replied tersely. "That's part of why I don't like it."

Terra was jolted back to the present by the sound of Slade thrashing about furiously in his earthen prison. With all three of this team down, the masked mercenary was desperate to escape. Terra jerked her head in his direction with a smile. "Do you want to do the honors?"

"More than you'll ever know." Robin said with a huge smile. He moved over to where Slade stood, and the way he moved could only be described as a strut. Behind him, the other Titans looked on with pride and happiness- years of frustration and pain were about to pay off. Reaching the struggling mercenary, Robin paused to savor the moment. When he spoke, his voice was full of indescribable satisfaction- it was clear he'd been looking forward to this moment for a very, VERY long time. "Slade…you're under arrest."

A/N
Sorry this took so long, but I wanted to make the climax of the story as good as I possibly could. I hope that it didn't disappoint too badly? Let's see some reviews!

We aren't quite done yet folks. We've got a bit of wrap-up left, plus a few epilogues.

Happy lockdown, one and all.