Jump City. It was a large, industrial-type city that possessed a large stone quarry, a port, and access to a large forest just north of it. Jobs were plentiful, housing was (somewhat) affordable, and the school systems were counted amongst the best in the country. It had grown over the years into one of the best cities in the US, though this was primarily due to the presence of one particular group of people…

The Titans.

That's right. Superheroes.

The Titans themselves inhabited a large T-shaped tower that sat on a fair sized island in the bay. Not only was it their home, but it was also the central hub for the entirety of the Titans team. Dozens of Titans came and went from the tower year round, though at this time four of the six Titans that actually lived there were away from the tower. Thankfully though, they had friends to cover for them. And speaking of those friends…

In the common room of the tower, which served as kitchen, war room, and living room, a young woman floated in the air with her legs drawn up in a meditative pose. She wore a black one piece suit with a dark green cowl and cloak combo. Her body was outlined in a soft green hue, as it always was when she used her powers. Her hood was up, as was her face mask, leaving only a pair of green glowing eyes peering out of the darkness.

Her named was Lilith Clay and her superhero name was Omen. Precognitive, empathic, telepathic, and telekinetic, she was a hero that should have cut an impressive figure…if not for the fact that she was often referred to as 'Raven's little sister' or 'the other Raven' or 'the Green Raven'. They weren't related at all, though. While they did share a number of similarities, they weren't alike so much that people should tag her as Raven's younger sibling. No disrespect towards Raven, but it annoyed Lilith to no end. Her unstable telepathy and empathy were giving her enough identity issues that she didn't need those almost derogatory nicknames attached.

This morning, in particular, had been bad. She had had the overnight patrol and had stopped for a coffee when she got caught in the early morning rush. Still unable to fully control her empathy or telepathy, she had been completely overwhelmed by the civilians thoughts and emotions around her. She had lost her mind and memories within minutes, leaving her barely more than a standing zombie that couldn't tell if it was an elderly man wanting a decaf or the young woman looking for a triple expresso. Thankfully, someone had noticed her plight and notified the other Titans, who retrieved her. She had to be goaded into meditating and, in doing so, found herself again. Almost two and a half years of rehabilitation was paying off.

Her thoughts were turned inward, reflecting once again on her tenure with N.O.W.H.E.R.E., which was a nightmare in and of itself and the source of her problems. Captured at a young age and experimented on relentlessly, she had wound up as a torturer and a tester for the evil organization up until almost three years ago when the Titans brought the whole place crashing down. Lilith had been through so much mental brainwashing that she didn't remember who she was before her time with the organization. Sometimes she thought she was a demigoddess, the daughter of the Titans of Myth. Other times she believed she was the daughter of a man called Mr. Jupiter. Sometimes she even thought she started the Titans team. She knew neither the truth of her past nor why the word Manhattan filled her with an overwhelming sense of dread, but what she did know that was that she owed the bulk of her mental rehabilitation to Raven. The older empath had worked diligently with her until she was able to keep herself relatively stable. Lilith was more than grateful of Raven's help in piecing her mind and personality back together, so she was more than willing to ignore the disparaging remarks about her similarities to the sorceress.

Well, most of the time anyways.

A soft touch on her shoulder drew her attention to reality. She didn't need her empathy to know who it was. She turned to the owner of the hand and offered him a small smile that he couldn't actually see. "Hey."

"Hey." He said back. "You okay?"

She nodded and pulled back her hood and lowered her mask, revealing her almost wild ginger-red hair and forest green eyes. Her smiled widened a bit seeing and feeling how concerned for her that her boyfriend was. "Yeah. I'm me again."

"That's good." He said, relief filling his emotions. He wrapped his arms around her. "Had me worried."

Lilith said nothing, but leaned into his embrace and basked in his positive emotions. It was something Raven had taught her to do, to use someone precious to you as an anchor to reality.

And Tempest was one hellavu anchor.

Once known as Aqualad, Garth was every bit of the model superhero. Being Atlantean, he was super strong and extremely durable. He could breathe underwater naturally and had telepathy with aquatic creatures, not to mention that he had hydrokenises and had recently (re)acquainted himself with his innate ability to use magic. He was a good, albeit plain mannered, man whose hobbies included swimming in the ocean, taking naps in the rain, protesting the consumption of marine life, occasionally playing video games, and collecting seashells.

Nice and boring, which was precisely what Lilith needed after such a tumultuous life. She wasn't entirely certain how they had made a romantic connection with her identity issues, but she wasn't going to complain at all.

"Your beard tickles." She said, pulling her head away from his.

"Pft, please. I know you love it." Garth chuckled.

Lilith snorted and ran her hand across his chin. Beards were a rarity in Atlantean physiology, so Garth's small beard (more of a chinstrap, really) was his pride and joy. He wouldn't shave it for anything. "I don't know, looks kinda scruffy to me…"

"I don't know how you can see anything through that messy hair of yours."

As the happy couple teased each other, one of the doors to the common room opened to reveal a young man with electric blue skin and a bright pink mohawk.

James Kilroy Wattson-Jarlden, or Kilowatt as civilians knew him, was relieved to see Omen safe and sound in her own mind again. The serious minded man from another reality had been worried sick. He'd seen a lot of Titans and troubled metahumans in both this world and his home world, so he knew when someone was in bad shape. Lilith wasn't as bad as she was when the Titans rescued her from N.O.W.H.E.R.E but she still had to be watched in case she had a relapse.

He sighed and ran his hands across the bald parts of his head, little jolts of electricity jumping from the contact. Raven had told him he needed to learn to be calmer, to not stress so much about the livelihood of his companions, but it was so much easier said than done. He deeply cared about his friends and the people of this world that accepted him so readily, so he tended to be a bit of a worrywart.

He took a deep, calming breath, then continued on into the room.

Lilith gave him a thankful nod as he passed, which he returned as he made his way to the main computer. As the resident technician and computer expert (trained personally by Cyborg as his stand-in), it was his duty to monitor all the police-related feeds for criminal activity that would require the Titans attention. Although Jump City had been quiet for a few weeks, it wasn't a good enough reason to relax.

Well, at least not in Kilowatt's opinion.

As he flipped through the tower camera feed (which he did every three hours that he was awake) he noticed that Raven and Changeling still hadn't gotten up. The sorceress that had saved him from death many years ago was without a doubt the person he respected most on this Earth. Even though she hadn't been able to find his home world a second time to send him back, he was more than happy to fight alongside her. And more than capable of letting her and her boyfriend sleep in. Assuming they were here, of course.

Another video, this one actively recording in the tower, showed something else.

"Incoming, Lilith." He called out.

"Chatterbox?" She asked, not hiding her annoyance.

"Yep."

Lilith sighed as another door opened to reveal the aforementioned nuisance.

The 'Chatterbox', as she was called by Lilith and Raven, was in fact a 17 year old girl by the name of Cassie Sandsmark. Blonde as the sun is yellow and as talkative as a toddler, Cassie was a headstrong girl who had recently been anointed the title Wonder Girl from the previous holder of that name, Donna Troy (who was, coincidentally, Lilith's closest friend). She was the most recent addition to the Titans roster, being brought in just a few months ago.

Being of Olympian blood, she was an actual demigoddess (much to Lilith's chagrin) and very proud of it. She had her headphones on and was dancing around singing to some song only she could hear. Her short black skirt swirled around as she did so, and she almost danced right out of her brown hoodie. Her Wonder Woman themed tanktop had a permanent stain on it, evidence of her love of chilidogs. She was, all in all, the typical teenage girl…if you disregarded the fact that her father was Zeus.

Following shortly behind her was her own close friend, Solstice. Kiran Singh, her real name, was from India and a N.O.W.H.E.R.E survivor like Lilith. The experiments on her, however, had been less extreme. She had been there for less time as well. Not only did she retain all her memories of before her abduction, but her personality hadn't wavered either. Raven said the girl was 'a wholly positive spirit that embraced all life and experiences'. Changeling had said 'that right there is Starfire if she was human'. His description of Kiran was on point, particularly since Starfire and Solstice hit it off the moment they met. Having that much bubbly happiness floating around was almost nauseating.

"Namaste, Lilith." Kiran said and bowed as Cassie danced on by. "Are you well?"

The Indian girls' accent was a little thick, but Lilith had no trouble understanding the truth of the query. "Yes, I am. Thank you for helping me earlier."

"It's no problem at all." Kiran smiled as she reached out and grabbed Cassie's shirt. She pulled the errant girl away from the corner of the countertop she almost danced into. Garth chuckled and Lilith rolled her eyes.

The room got slightly busier as time ticked by. Lilith set about cooking a late breakfast for herself as Kiran prepared some food for lunch later. She was a vegetarian like Changeling, which tickled him absolutely pink. The two of them alternated cooking for themselves, though Raven, Garth, and Kilowatt sometimes ate vegetarian with them. Lilith and Cassie refused to partake in such meals (which was probably the only thing they could agree on and it earned them brownie points with Cyborg).

Cassie continued dancing, oblivious to the world. James sat down and started watching television (whilst keeping an eye on the computer camera feeds) as Garth moved into the kitchen and helped his girlfriend. It was a nice and relatively quiet morning.

Almost suspiciously so.

"Anybody heard from Raven or Changeling?" James asked. Raven was usually up by now.

"Probably sleeping in." Garth said as he munched on Lilith's leftover bacon. "That's what couples do sometimes, ya know?"

James frowned. "Yeah but-"

"Quit being a killjoy, Kill-owatt!" Cassie said as she popped an earbud out and darted into the kitchen. "We're going back to Titans East tomorrow! Going home! Be happy!"

"You four are, yes, but I'm stationed here until Cyborg returns from Star City in a few days." James waved her off.

"She means to relax, James." Kiran interrupted, but kindly. "You stress out too much."

"I'm not stressed!" He protested. "But if there's a villain attack-"

"Stressed! Out!" The other Titans said in unison.

James sighed. Maybe he needed a vacation. Do superheroes even get vacations? Nightwing would know, but he's on his honeymoon with Starfire right now. Cyborg would know too, but he's busy visiting his father with his wife Jinx and their daughter Hecate. That left Raven and Changeling.

"They are in the tower though, right?" He asked.

Everyone looked to Lilith, who shrugged.

"I bumped into them while on patrol after midnight last night. They've been in and out of the tower a lot this week. Raven warded their room against psionics including empathy…so…I guess?"

"Probably enjoying their freedom." Garth chuckled. Lilith scowled at him and he threw his hands up. "Hey, I'm just sayin'!"

"I'm sure Raven wouldn't like to hear you say that." Lilith huffed.

Raven, who was in the middle of an orgasm, wouldn't have cared the slightest.

"Hey, look!" James said as he switched camera feeds once again. "Mammoth! That's the first time I've seen him since we got here."

The Titans looked to the screen to see Mammoth walking downtown with a large television box under his arm.

Lilith sighed and Garth patted her on the arm.

"Don't worry babe, I got-"

"DIBS!" Cassie shouted before flying out of the room. Kiran sighed this time and started washing her hands.

"It's alright, I'll go with her." Garth said as he ran out after the headstrong girl.

"How do you put up with her?" Lilith asked her teammate. The five of them might be on the same team, but she tried to avoid Cassie whenever possible.

"We've known each other for a long time. Our parents were friends, so we were too." Kiran gave her a small smile. "She has flaws, yes, but do we not all possess quirks that others might not be so fond of?"

Lilith didn't have an answer for that, but now she was wondering precisely which religion Kiran followed to be so accepting of people.

James, on the other hand, worried. Did it bother people that he was so dedicated to fighting crime?

"Calm yourself, James." Lilith said, feeling his thoughts dip into negativity. "You're mostly fine as you are."

"Mostly?" He asked, confused.

"You need to relax a bit more." She said with a nod and a little grin. "Seriously, you're going to give yourself health problems at this rate. Raven herself has said this."

James knew she was right, but he wasn't sure if he could ever relax again. Not after…

"That wasn't your fault."

He looked up at Lilith in surprise now. She looked a little guilty.

"I sort of…unintentionally peaked in your mind a while back and saw some things. I asked Changeling about it and he told me what happened." She hesitated for moment then made a face. "I know it's been said before, James, but Wildebeest's disappearance wasn't your fault."

As many times as he had heard it over the past couple of years, he still had problems believing it. He still felt responsible. If he had only-

"James." Lilith came over and put her hand on his shoulder. After a few seconds, a wave of calmness enveloped him.

"Sorry." He said, turning his eyes back to the screen, where Cassie had confronted Mammoth.

"You don't have to apologize. You know that."

"Tell that to Pantha and Red Star." He sighed.

"They don't blame you at all." Lilith said firmly. "They never have. You needed the rest and he volunteered to take your patrol that night. You are the only one that blames you."

Kiran looked over from her cooking. Lilith wasn't very good at comforting people, but she was trying. She didn't know much about the Wildebeest incident other than that the hero had been abruptly abducted with a fight that had trashed a whole warehouse. Blood had been found, Wildebeest's, but he never was. Changeling had run himself ragged for weeks before he was forced to give up before he collapsed from exhaustion. The Titans had never stopped looking, but…that was years ago and there was still no sign of him.

She knew James would eventually come to terms with this self-anointed skeleton in his closet. At that point, things would get better for him.

Her own life was rather enjoyable right now, even with her slight case of homesickness. The hara bhara kababs she was working on was her mother's recipe and always reminded her of home when she made them. The daal-palak ka shorba soup was her grandmother's recipe and was about the only thing she could remember about her grandmother. She was grateful to have reconnected with her family after her kidnapping and imprisonment. And she was hoping that her training with Raven to control her altered powers was far along enough for her to safely return home soon. She missed all of them, even her annoying little brother.

Although, she would also miss having Changeling exaggeratingly call her the best chef in the world. He was a rather funny man.

If Kiran was concerned about anything, or anyone, it was Lilith. In one of their quieter moments after their rescue, Lilith had admitted to her of being envious of the younger girl for staying intact throughout her abduction and experimentation. Kiran's response was to vow to be her friend until their time was over so that she could share this happiness with her. Considering that it was the brainwashed Lilith that had ordered Kiran to be abducted for said experiments, it had humbled the youngest empath to be given the opportunity to right the some of the wrongs she committed.

But the truth was that Kiran simply didn't have it in her to hate someone who had been so badly broken into pieces and was struggling so hard to put themselves back together.

Perhaps she should make some malai kofta to celebrate everyone's growth over the past few months? She checked the fridge. They were going to need more potatoes. Who's turn was it to go shopping?

Ah, silly question…

"Gar?"

"Yes babe?"

"As much as I'm enjoying this, we kinda have things to do today."

"Well, good thing that you're Thing One, huh?" He chuckled.

"Garfield!" Raven swatted his arm. "Seriously. I know it's spring, but you don't have to be such a horndog every five minutes."

"I'm sorry babe." He kissed her neck. "Mating season's a pain in the ass, you know?"

"Yes, I do know." She pulled away from him and climbed out of bed. "That's why we need a shower."

"Alright, alright." He laughed. He knew she wasn't actually annoyed with him. She was just hungry. He could, after all, hear her stomach growling quite clearly.

The bathroom light flicked on as Raven entered, revealing to the empath her latest bite-marks. She rolled her eyes as she telekinetically turned on the shower and started healing the ones on her neck. The ones elsewhere could stay for now.

The past few years had been good to Raven and Garfield. The changeling, now going by the codename Changeling (unironically), had finally hit his growth spurt last year and shot up in height to a lofty 5'9'. And yes, Raven's favorite joke was remarking about how tall he had gotten recently, much to his annoyance. He usually spat back with a joke about her height, which, ironically, hadn't changed one bit. She was still 5'4' after all these years. Raven didn't mind though, she preferred having Garfield taller than her. And unfortunately for Garfield, his jokes about her height still never fazed her.

They were still active heroes and hadn't really had much change in their lifestyle. They'd had a few hero incidents here and there, sure, even a few hiccups and potholes and whatnot. But that was who they were and what they were about. They were good at what they did and that was more than satisfactory.

The only legitimate changes as heroes they'd had was in uniform. Raven had added a inner thigh hiding cloth to the front and back of her belt area, which was really there to hide the bite-marks Garfield always left behind. Raven's hair had grown longer and she, in turn, had grown to love it. But that was mostly because it was easier for Garfield to pull. Well, he loved her hair long too, because…well, she didn't really know. But that was okay.

As for Garfield, he had wound up ditching the full arm gloves altogether and went from pants to shorts with boots. It was still a white and red uniform like the one he'd received from the Doom Patrol a long time ago but this one was made of tougher material that he could barely pronounce and wasn't even going to attempt to spell. He'd needed a tougher one since the old ones kept ripping every time he blinked. One too many people had poked fun at him for the nail marks Raven left on his back after his shirt ripped.

Their relationship, obviously, had changed so much in six years and Raven didn't regret a single moment of it.

"Water's getting cold, slowpoke." Garfield called out from the shower.

"Who's fault is that?" She shot back. He chuckled and Raven rolled her eyes again.

Soon enough, she pushed her way into the shower. The water wasn't even remotely cold.

"What's on the agenda today?" Garfield asked as he squirted a dollop of shampoo into his hand and started lathering her hair.

"I don't know, team leader, you tell me." Raven said teasingly. Garfield rolled his eyes and she laughed.

"Uhhh…shit, I don't know? I make this up as I go along, you know that!"

She shook her head as she lathered up his nice, firm pectorals and biceps. "Oh no sir, you need to keep up with this. Better than you have been, I might add."

He grunted and started thinking as he scrubbed Raven's scalp. Yesterday they had had aerial combat training. Everyone could fly but Garth, but between his hydrokinesis and his new magic, he was perfectly able to keep up. Tomorrow they were all returning to Titans East except Kilowatt. Aquatic simulations? No, wait, they did that last week. First aid? No, two weeks ago. What should they-

He flinched when Raven wrapped her fingers around his sensitive member, which made her laugh softly.

"Tease me and you'll get this bull by the horn. Again." He said, looking down into her mischievous eyes.

"Am I supposed to be afraid?" Her teasing, pretend mocking voice echoed in the shower. He reached down and popped her on the ass. She just smugly smiled at him and continued to wash/massage him.

This woman is gonna drive me nuts. Which one of us is the horndog again? He thought to himself as he shook his head.

And that's when it hit him.

"Nuts!" He shouted, wincing as the echo hurt his ears.

Raven gave him an odd look and started washing his testicles. "Do they hurt?"

"Well, yes they do, but no, I didn't mean my nuts." He said exasperatingly. "I meant that it's grocery day and it's our turn."

"Look at that, big bad Garfield figured out the puzzle all by himself."

The snark made him groan. "Ravvveennnn."

"I'm just picking, Gar." Raven chuckled again. "Yes, we need to go shopping."

"You and that damn sassy ass of yours." Garfield growled, reaching down for a double handful of ass and pulling her close. "You're gonna get in trouble if you keep that up."

"Pft." Raven swatted his hands away and turned around to rinse off better.

Raven did get in 'trouble' a few minutes later when she pressed her butt against his fresh erection and 'accidentally' rubbed against him. Repeatedly.

But that was okay.

It was the good kind of trouble and they were already in the shower.

"You left a handprint on my butt." Raven complained, turning to the side and pulling her cloak back. "See?"

Garfield eyeballed the mark. It was nice and pink but would obviously fade before long. "Why yes, I do."

"Such a brute!" She lamented melodramatically.

Garfield rolled his eyes and kept brushing her hair. If Raven was being serious, he probably wouldn't be able to hear out of one ear right now. As it was, she was just in a good mood. A friendly, playful, sassy mood. Five rounds of sex usually did that to her.

He heard her snort in amusement as his boots slipped on and tightened themselves. Her belt floated into place around her waist and clicked together.

"I was thinking, Garfield." Raven said seriously, drawing his attention back to her. "I don't really like the gold."

Garfield looked around her to their reflection in the nearby mirror. She was referring to the golden trim on her cloak, boots, and sash-thing that Garfield constantly forgot the name of.

"What's wrong with it now?" He asked, picking apart a small knot as gently as he could.

"It looks gaudy to me."

He looked up from the knot, eyebrow raised. "Really? I think it looks good with either the white or the blue. Plus, it matches your belt and clasp a bit too."

Raven's brow furrowed as she eyed herself once more. She wasn't the fashionable type of woman, so those types of things usually went over her head. She knew how to match clothes, yes, but her wardrobe was mostly blue, black, and dark green. These bright lines of gold made her feel off even if she could acknowledge Garfield's point.

Her uniform was blue because it was a very calm color. She liked hiding in plain sight too, blending in with shadows and whatnot…but the gold was very, very noticeable.

When her uniform was white, it looked too…angelic. Literally the opposite of what she was.

Raven just didn't like the extra attention.

"Come on Rae, it ain't that bad." Garfield kissed her neck. "It's all Lord of Order-y and whatnot. You said yourself that that was a big thing and big things like that usually come with extra whistles and bells, right?"

Raven frowned. Sometimes she hated when he was right.

Maybe being a Lord of Order was going to be more annoying than she thought.

Help me!

Garfield cocked his ear to the side. Either he was hearing things or the television was echoing through the ventilation system again.

"Namaste, Raven."

"Namaste, Kiran."

"Sup!"

Raven gave him a look that said really? and Garfield stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

He was still having trouble with Hindu (Hindi? He wasn't sure) so unless something was asked in the language he tended to avoid it. It wasn't that he didn't like it, it was that it didn't come to him as easily as Spanish did. He did know a good bit of French too, but not enough for a long conversation. He wasn't a real polyglot like Raven, who could speak somewhere around thirty languages fluently now.

Kiran never seemed to mind though, which was a huge plus in his book.

"Is that a new saree? It's beautiful." Raven asked, gesturing to the traditional Indian dress that Kiran wore. It was a lovely shade of sky blue with small sun patterns sewn into the hem, accented by a navy blue undershirt. The saree Raven got last year during Durga Puja was a dark blue with little white birds on the hem, and if there were more as nice as Kiran's then she definitely wanted another.

"It is! I got it from Arav and Ananyan. They also told me to send you their greetings."

Raven chuckled. "I need to go by there and see them, it's been a while."

"Whatcha makin'?" Garfield asked as they entered the kitchen. He waved at James.

"Hara bhara kababs and daal-palak ka shorba soup." She replied. "It's done, actually."

"Smells amazing." He said as his stomach growled loudly.

"Looks good too." Raven also eyed it.

Kiran laughed and gestured to it. "Go ahead, I've already eaten my fill."

The couple eagerly dug into the Indian food, savoring the strong flavors and powerful smells of the foreign dishes. Neither of them had ever thought about trying Indian before meeting Kiran and they regretted not doing so deeply after she started cooking for them.

"Dude, we are totally buying some Indian cookbooks." Garfield said through a mouthful of food.

"Mhmm." Was all Raven could reply with.

Garfield looked around for their other teammate. "Hey James have you tried…hey, what's going on?"

Raven looked up and over to see Kilowatt bringing up a camera feed onto the big screen.

"I already told you, I paid for it!" Mammoth groaned. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Cause you're a criminal, duh!" Cassie replied as Tempest edged behind Mammoth.

"Cassie saw him and shot out before anyone could even blink." Lilith said with a sigh. "She's too hot-blooded."

Raven's communicator appeared in her hand and she dialed Wonder Girl and Tempest immediately.

"Stand down." She said before they could greet her. "Let him go."

"But-" Cassie started to say before Raven cut her off again.

"Now."

She watched the camera feed to make sure her orders were followed. Wonder Girl scowled but stepped away from the ginger giant. Tempest too stepped away. Mammoth grumbled something inaudible and stomped away.

"I'm gonna need an explanation for that one Raven." Tempest said. "I know for a fact he's one of your oldest enemies."

"You're only half right. If any of you had read up on our case files about the Fearsome Five, you'd know that Mammoth walked away from criminal activity after Psimon murdered his little sister."

Tempest looked surprised, as did Wonder Girl.

"Yeah, it was pretty messy." Garfield leaned over Raven's shoulder to speak. "There was some kind of power struggle. Psimon knocked out Gizmo and Doctor Light, Mammoth got psionically pinned to the ground and then had to watch as Psimon blasted his sister Shimmer into pieces when she turned to glass to try to avoid his mind powers."

"I remember hearing about that now." James said. "Didn't Mammoth have a breakdown or something?"

"After he turned Psimon into a stain on the ground, yes." Raven nodded. "He isn't a particularly smart man, but he did love his sister. He knew he was responsible for bringing his baby sister into that sort of life and responsible for her death too. It broke his heart completely."

"He developed a form of PTSD from that, so there wasn't much else anyone could do to him." Raven continued on, deliberately not mentioning that she could have helped him. "To shorten the rest of story, he works construction now, legally. He doesn't do anything but work, eat, and watch television. Well, he goes to a psychiatrist too, but that's a given."

"Oh." Tempest and Wonder Girl both said.

"Yeah. So leave the guy alone. He hasn't even jaywalked since that day." Garfield said before he frowned. "And speaking of breaking rules, Wonder Girl, get back here."

"Huh? Why-"

"Now." Garfield snapped at her.

James looked a little startled but both Raven and Kiran knew what was about to happen. Cassie did too, apparently, because she slinked in some minutes later with Garth blocking her path out of the room. Lilith could only wonder what was going on.

"Cassie." Garfield said as calmly as he could, abandoning his food and approaching the younger heroine. "We've talked about this. Twice."

"I know! I just-"

He shook his head and spoke over her rather loudly. "There is no I just to it. You're a superhero now. A legit one, not just a girl trying to get in on it. You cannot just jump someone cause they look suspicious. You need proof, evidence, to approach them like that."

"But everybody knows he was a criminal!" She protested.

"Was is the key word." He said sternly. "That is not the case anymore. He is an ex criminal that is supervised on a weekly basis. What you did was harass a civilian."

Cassie hesitated and looked away. "I didn't know that, okay? I'm sorry."

"That's because you keep skipping reviewing dossiers on supervillains! I find them just as boring as you do, but damnit Cassie, they are important! Do you want a repeat of what happened with Mumbo?!"

She winced and couldn't keep the guilty look from her face. "No."

As the ass-chewing continued, Lilith leaned over to Raven and quietly asked a question. "What happened with Mumbo? Why don't I remember this?"

Raven made an unpleasant face. "You and James were back in Steel City that week helping Karen and Malcolm with the nursery, but what happened was was that Cassie was on patrol and spotted Mumbo leaving the hospital. She tailed him across the city to a warehouse before jumping him to see what he was up to. As it would turn out, Mumbo had just gotten back a diagnosis of a rather serious heart condition. Cassie scared him so bad that he had a heart attack."

"Jesus Christ." Lilith swore.

Raven nodded. "He died on the way back to the hospital and couldn't be resuscitated. I couldn't do anything for his heart either, it just didn't have it in it to start back up."

"I'd seen Mumbo once before, but how old was he to be like that?" James asked.

"Nintey-six."

"Jesus…" Lilith looked back to her almost crying teammate and felt bad for her for the first time.

"Ten laps around the tower grounds, no powers." Garfield barked. "Then when you're done you will sit and read every dossier we have."

"Yes sir." Cassie said quietly before walking out.

"Went a little hard on her, didn't you?" Garth asked as the door closed. "You weren't exactly polished boots and fitted sheets yourself up until a couple of years ago."

"I dunno, the whole dominant alpha male thing was kinda hot." Raven muttered under her breath. Garfield shot her a look before turning to Garth.

"It's not that I want to, dude, trust me. I hate being serious like that. But Cassie is way more impulsive than I ever was and it is, for lack of a better term, a liability. You know how thin the line we walk is, especially after that bullcrap with the Justice League."

All of them grimaced at that. The Thanagarian invasion had been pretty unpleasant and the Justice League was still struggling with the aftereffects of having Hawkgirl being the one primarily responsible for it.

"Yeah…that's fair Garfield." Garth conceded.

"You're gonna have to keep her in line and teach her more when you guys go back to Steel City. Karen's still on maternity leave for a few more months, so you're team leader until then." Garfield reminded him. Garth winced and made a face.

"I know you don't want to hear this, Lilith, but you're going to have to help him." Raven said quietly.

"What? Why?"

"Because, like me, you are an empath. Cassie is a very emotional and headstrong girl, so you're going to have to reign her in before she can make bad decisions. Teach her, help her, and watch her grow into someone who doesn't need you as a mentor anymore."

Lilith looked to Raven, who had the slightest smirk upon her lips. Was that Raven's way of saying she didn't need to help her anymore? Did Raven think she was ready? Lilith had some serious doubts about that.

"Everything will be alright." Raven said softly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!The tower shuddered and everyone reflexively assumed fighting stances.

"What the hell? James, camera feed, tower grounds!" Garfield barked as the Titans scrambled. "That better not be Cassie pissed off and throwing a tantrum!"

"She's still in the elevator, Gar." Raven corrected him.

"Nevermind then."

Within moments the camera switched and began cycling through the monitored areas until it found…

"Oh Poseidon, no, not him again." Tempest groaned.

"King Shark is a shark!" The large bipedal shark man roared as he slammed his fists into the tower again.

"You know him?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, he's basically Steel City's Mammoth, but a lot tougher. Possibly stupider."

"King Shark is a shark!" Boom!

"Uhhh….." Kilowatt couldn't think of anything to say to what he was seeing. How the hell did that idiot follow them to Jump City? Why did it take him so long to get here? Were Karen and Malcolm okay?

Tempest sighed. "He wants to fight me. Again."

"Well, we'd hate to disappoint him huh dude?" Changeling said. "Titans, go!"