Author's Note: BING BONG, I never posted this chapter back in 2018 when I first wrote it! So, I cleaned it up, added some finishing tweaks, and am pushing forward with the rest of the story. These are notes of old, while the upcoming content is fresh and polished. Consider this a bonfire rest point before the rest of the wild stuff. Stay tuned!

Robin

"What's going on in here?!" Robin shouted as he entered with Raven full-on going postal with her powers.

"I don't know man!" Cyborg shouted back. "Everything was fine, then the next thing I know, I'm turning my music off and Raven thinks there's someone in the tower!"

"In the tower?" he looked at Raven, whose black aura had died down. "Was it Slade?"

Beast Boy looked around, expecting droids to appear. Starfire did the same, but Terra stared blankly into space.

"It was Jane." Raven breathed, eyes widening, but then quickly narrowing with a frown. "She was here. In the tower."

"Impossible." Cyborg choked out. "She's probably—"

"DON'T SAY IT!" Robin pointed at him.

"It is possible." Raven looked at Terra, who had her back to her. "I sensed her. I know that cowardice anywhere."

"Cowardice?" Robin asked, absolutely disgusted. "Cowardice?"

"Oh, come on Robin." Raven spat. "You can't be this naïve."

"Why don't you enlighten us, Raven?" Robin was clearly angry, and nobody wanted to step in his way. "What am I so naïve about?"

"You think that was all a chance occurrence? Slade comes to pick up Jane as soon as he gets to see her perform in battle? While at the SAME TIME, her best friend is working for Brother Blood? Robin, we were played! We were played by a gaggle of rogues who were just looking for a place to stay and take advantage of while they did their masters' dirty work."

"Did you see the look on her face when she was tugged down by her hair? Thrown to the ground, picked up and choked? You think her cries for help, her cries of absolute horror, you think that was all fake?" Robin got close to Raven's face, his own red from frustration.

"We've seen it before." Raven went for the jab, getting Terra's attention. "Why don't we have her diagnose it?"

Everybody turned to look at Terra, who had solemnly sat up when she heard Raven's comment. This whole time, she had been sitting at the counter on a bar stool, staring off into space. But now, with a deep breath, she turned on her stool and looked at them. Their scared and misunderstanding faces. Ashamed, she shook her head.

"That was real fear, Raven." Terra muttered. "Painstakingly, undoubtedly, real."

Raven widened her eyes, but then swiftly narrowed them again.

"I have never seen a true look of horror on somebody's face. She just reunited with her best friend, who she learned was working for Brother Blood. Then she was being attacked by the most intimidating man we've ever battled." She gulped. "You've seen her fear, Robin." She looked right at him. "What was it like, right after she fled from him? It was bad, wasn't it?"

Robin looked down, not wanting to respond with what he knew would either back Jane up, or would tear her down. He promised it would remain a secret.

"I felt her." Starfire admitted. "It seemed for only a few short moments, but she was there." She looked at Raven. "But it was not hostility that our friend radiated."

Beast Boy looked down as well. "I thought it was just a freak thing, but now that I think about it…" he sighed. "I think Rae's right. Robin, she was here."

"Now hold on." Cyborg stopped them. "Even if she was here, how would she make it this far? We saw her get choked, we saw her get pummeled and beaten down. She wouldn't have been able to regenerate that quickly to make it here. She can't just become—"

"A ghost…" Robin finished. Shaking his head, he thought of something else. "What if it was a cry for help?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Robin, I'm telling you—"

"Stop it! Raven, for once in your life, would you just believe in somebody?" he snapped. "Jane wouldn't be working for Slade. It's impossible. I know it is!"

"You said the same thing when we thought Terra was working for him. Except, you came to terms with it faster." Raven pointed out. "What makes you so sure we can trust her?"

"Because." Robin hesitated. "She revealed to me something that she could do. She knew she could trust us with it! Well, kind of…" he felt ashamed for bringing it up, but something in his gut told him to. "She could do something amazing. Project an image that only she could see, and fight it! The only problem was, that it basically made her body shut down. She came to me in the middle of the night for help."

As he expected, they stared at him dumbfounded.

"Come on! I have the tapes." He persuaded them.

They followed him to the security room, cameras following their every move as they went. Robin typed in the code for them to get in and they all entered. However, to a shock, they saw debris of VHS tapes on the floor.

"What?!" Robin shouted, picking the pieces up. "No, no, no, no!" he looked at the monitors, stood up, and looked for the correct dates with the keyboard.

Cyborg identified the security and defenses. "No signs of a break-in, except for the tapes being destroyed. No dents in the door, no dents in the cabinet, not even a blip in the programming."

"The footage is gone." Robin said, defeated. "The training room, the hallways from that night, everything. It's been erased."

Terra looked around. "Were you the only one who knew about the footage?"

"Yes. She made me promise…" he gulped. "She was so scared of everybody finding out…"

"Who could have done this then?" Raven asked.

"I…" Robin looked around, at his friends, and past them into the hallway, as if Jane could look at him now. "I…don't know…"

Jane

When her eyes opened, she could see the ceiling of her quarters. Eerily, the light was on, brighter than usual and uncomforting. Her back lied flat against her bed, and she moved her right hand to her face to allow for a little more darkness.

How long was I out?

She remembered flinging herself into her body, then seeming to swim through the immensity of dying for a few seconds. Her consciousness seemed to float there, until she heard him speak. She remembered the light that enveloped her, feeling her body start back up in the painful way that it does. It's like every time she reboots, her organs are shredded and reformed, but there's no way that that was possible. The information crowded itself like a superhighway, too much being processed at one time. This time though, she was afraid the power would crash on top of her, fearing that this reboot was too much for her to handle.

"Why did you show me the map? What was that?"

Shit, I probably have some explaining to do. But what the fuck do I tell him?

Uncovering her eyes, she was shocked to not see him standing over her. For the first time, she realized that there were blankets covering her, along with bandages and suction cups sticking to her skin, with wires protruding from the side of the bed. As she examined under the blankets, her face sunk slowly.

Where's my apprentice suit.

Looking around, she saw no replacement for the one she assumed was ruined. Thankfully, bandages and shorts covered everything important. She sat up, understanding that she was covered. It was odd and she needed a replacement suit, or other clothing, quickly. There was a heart monitor in the corner of the room, surely giving Slade everything he needed in order to track her vitals. A lamp next to it gave the room its eerie, hospital-like illumination. As if on command, he opened the door. He looked at her, then at the machine.

"Once again, your healing element impresses me. You shouldn't be awake yet."

"I am." She sighed. "I didn't mean to give you a heart attack." She smiled faintly, but then shook her head. "I assume you have questions."

"I do." He looked at the papers that were being produced by the monitor. "I just find it odd that you're alive. You were dead. I saw it."

"You said that when I came back." Her head started to hurt, but she ignored it. "How long was I dead?" she gulped.

"I would say a little over 3 minutes." He didn't look at her.

That's longer than last time.

Nodding, she felt something jump in her chest. This feeling she was getting…was not very welcoming.

"When you were in the tower, why did you use your powers? You knew you were struggling on the physical end. You nearly died."

"I'm aware." She swallowed nervously. "I knew I didn't have enough time to do a total recon of the entire tower. I was running out of time, and fast. I found the Titans in their common room and you could say…I just plucked the information out of them, using my powers." Sensing his anger, she quickly continued. "I was only in their minds for a few moments each, maybe less."

"I feel a 'but' entering the sentence." He sighed, trying not to become aggravated.

"Raven sensed me." She instinctively flinched.

The fact that he refused to react scared her more than anything.

"That's why you screamed." He said after about thirty seconds.

"Yes." She decided not to question how he heard her scream. "She tried to trap me in the tower with her powers, but I was able to get away. While I don't know whether or not she actually saw my form, I'm going to assume she knows it was me."

"And the information you got was the map." He asked, taking a step closer.

"Yes, master." She paused. "You saw it too, didn't you?"

"Only for a moment, but yes." He looked at her and squinted. "But that isn't all that you saw in their heads."

Her heart skipped a beat.

"What is it you aren't telling me, apprentice?" he walked up to her bed and looked down at her menacingly.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about…" she was being completely honest. "I only plucked the map…"

"So you say. But remember what I said about your mental abilities, and entering the mind of another?"

"You knew about my mental mapping because I trespassed into your head. Yes, I remember."

"Well, I accidentally trespassed into yours. But again, only for a brief moment. What is it you're not telling me?"

Trying not to panic, she shook her head. The pounding in her head starting to web throughout her whole skull. "I…I'm not hiding anything…"

He stared at her for a while, but then surprisingly backed off.

"Master, I assure you…" she was terrified.

He shushed her. "Go back to sleep. You're not fit to be awake yet." He started to walk away. "When you are, we have work to do. Now that I know what you're capable of, and you've destroyed the tapes, we need to finish our preparations."

Raising her head again, she responded with "Yes master", in a surprisingly chipper attitude.

Jane's Dreams

Sitting cross legged in the middle of a blank room, all she knew was that she was definitely dreaming. The bandages around her chest, stomach, arms, and legs, still existed, along with the shorts she wore. This space was familiar, but she received an ill feeling. Curiosity tugged at her; she wanted to know what her master knew that she, herself, apparently did. Looking around, she did not feel as much fear as she did when she was awake, and her headache had gone away. She knew she had full control in here. When she closed her eyes and re-opened them, she was shocked to be in a completely different space.

"It's so hot…" she thought. "It's so hot…"

This wasn't her body anymore. She was suddenly standing on a pillar of rock, her master standing in front of her, backing away, but still managing to keep his wits about him. Her body moved on its own, power flooding in places where she was not used to it coming from. Rocks were flying around, and she realized what was going on almost immediately.

"Terra! Terra, no!"

She was in the body of Terra, or even worse, her memories. Rocks seemed to crumble and explode around them, Terra being the sole cause. Jane wanted to be able to move away, make it all stop, but she was only a witness to what was about to happen. She knew it was coming. Robin had told her. Below Slade's feet, rocks crumbled. But that was not how this happened. There was such extreme anger, extreme mistrust, denial, betrayal, guilt, and such a lack of control. Terra threw a rock into him, causing him to fly off of the edge. Jane wanted to scream, and perhaps where she was viewing, in this warped unconsciousness, she did. She watched Slade plummet into the lava below. What was the sickest thing about it? Terra watched. She watched his body and mask melt into nothing. Suddenly, she felt herself be pulled upward. Terra was going to stop whatever was going on. A surge of power could be felt flowing through her, and she wanted to get out. She couldn't. It was like she was being encased in stone.

"I need to get to him. I need to-!"

The entire environment changed around her, as if it dissolved on command. She was back to her resting place, her room of blank stillness. She sat there, in her own body, in her own control. However, the room was no longer empty. There was a statue that stood in her way. Terra, whom she recognized immediately. The stone statue had its hands raised, as if she was frozen in time.

"What is it you're not telling me?"

"I know about your murder, and I saw it in your mind, as well as in the memories of Terra." She clenched her fists. "I refuse to be afraid of you." She was talking to the statue. "I will not hesitate to tell him. Nothing can be worse than what I just saw."

Without a moment's hesitation, she sat back down again and breathed. She now knew what he knew, and she was ready to communicate. She wasn't afraid anymore.

Jane

Sitting up without allowing herself to be ready to open her eyes, she yanked the suction cups off of her body and tested her ability to stand. At first, she fell, waking her right the fuck up, but she tried again. This time, she was stable. The monitor was flat-lining, but she didn't care. Even though she was only covered by bandages and a pair of shorts, she knew she needed to talk to him. She opened the door and walked out into the lair. He didn't come running, and he wasn't in the training room. She had a feeling she knew where he was. As if it were expected of her, she walked into the main room, where he kept his tech and his computers. Surprisingly, he was nowhere to be found.

"What time is it?" she asked herself.

Luckily for her, there was a computer for her to check that on. It was 2:16 in the morning, which meant he was asleep. Probably. Following her mental map, she made her way to the one room she had never been in. The door was closed, and she didn't want to just barge in.

If he even sleeps, that would be a miracle.

Without hesitation, she knocked three times. Silence.

Oh my god, he isn't in there. He isn't there. Abort, abort, abort—

There was a sound of a lock undoing itself, and the door slowly opened. Slade was there, in full armor, looking down at her.

"I apologize for waking you master, as I know what time it is, and I know you require your rest as well." She started. "But I know what you wanted me to say when you interrogated me earlier." She clenched her fists, as his expression had not changed. "When I fell asleep, I saw something. Something I wasn't aware I knew about because I had absorbed so much information at once when I plucked the mental maps from the Titans. But I was allowed for clarity, time to think and experience it. And for that, I thank you. And I must admit it to you now; I knew about it before. I just never came to grips with it."

"And tell me what you saw." He finally said.

"I saw Terra murder you." She put it bluntly. "I apologize for bringing back any unpleasant memories."

Slade stepped out of, what she assumed to be his room, causing her to back up two steps. He looked at her, not angrily, but seriously.

"There is nothing pleasant to remember about my death, apprentice." He told her. "Continue."

"The first time I saw this, it was when I entered your mind without permission. I didn't mean to—" he started to walk, so she followed. "—stumble upon the memory, but it was there and I fell into it. I just felt hot, as if my skin was melting off and I just…needed to rip it off of me."

"How is that possible?" he asked. "I'm not sure if you know anything about death, apprentice, but memories are impossible." He said a little too sassily.

"The next I heard about this," she ignored him for now, "was when I woke up after the beginning of our recon mission. Robin was telling me about…" she paused. "…your past experiences with them, and he informed me that Terra did indeed kill you."

He noted her pause.

"In my dream, finally, I was Terra." She took a breath. "I was reliving her memory of killing you." She had to stop, seeing flashes of it.

He stopped with her.

"It was awful." She looked at her bare feet.

"Could you see me?" he asked.

"What?" she looked up at him. "Of course I could…she watched you plummet into…" she felt sick.

"Don't make yourself sick." He told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What else?"

"That's it." She regained her posture. "But the reason I came to tell you this, so early in the morning, was because I just needed to let you know that I know. I was in your head. I was in theirs. I stumbled upon information that perhaps you might have wanted to keep from me. If you thought it would waver my loyalty, then you are wrong."

"I had a hunch you already knew about it. You had no idea what you were doing when you entered my head to look for what you wanted. I pondered for a while about what you knew. It solidified when I noticed you continuously scratch at your arms, both in your sleep and when you were awake. That's why I interrogated you when you woke up."

That brought another thing to mind. "I hallucinated about it in the shower. I opened my eyes and I was covered in lava." She had nearly forgotten. "I had to remember that it wasn't real. I got a nosebleed afterwards." She told him.

"Interesting." He started walking again.

"Master—" she picked up her pace behind him. "I hope this wasn't sudden. I'm sorry, I just thought I needed to tell you that I'm not going to let this fear control me anymore. I think I'm ready."

"Ready?" he didn't look back at her.

"I'm ready to move on with the plan." She said confidently.

"Good." He entered the room with the glass vaults, where there was a brand new suit for her. "Because I'm going to need everything you compiled from your recon mission."

"My regular recon or my…other mission?" she asked.

"Everything."

/

Jane followed her master to the main room, where they would begin to dissect her previous mission.

"Let's begin by discussing what you discovered on your mission two nights ago." He said.

"Two nights?!" she exclaimed.

"I thought you knew that." He didn't turn around.

"No." she narrowed her eyes. "That was a long recovery time. Last time, I only needed about 6 hours."

"What happened when you left the lair, let's start with that." They had reached the main room and he approached his keyboard.

"I approached the perimeter, and I was surprised to learn that they had no idea I had even stepped through. Although I could interact with physical objects, I was not picked up like one. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes." He continued to pull up diagnostic reports.

"I also entered the tower without a trace." She continued. "When I had found the security room, I found the footage of the night in question. I promptly deleted it and searched for hard copies."

"I'm assuming you found some."

"I did. I smashed them."

At first, he raised his fists as if to smash the keyboard in anger, but he froze, which surprised her. She flinched, waiting for the outburst.

"You know what? That actually wasn't stupid." He told her.

"Uh."

"You told me that Raven detected you, correct?"

"She did." She nodded.

"When the Titans learn about this, they will become distracted. They will become split about who you really are, and whether or not they should trust you. Of course, Robin will be at the forefront of this." He didn't allow her to ask questions. "They will discover the shrapnel of the tapes, and they will have no tie back to you. They'll be stumped, distracted." He sounded a little too giddy. "You knew it couldn't be linked back to us, because they think you're dead."

She rose her hand. "Uh, yea, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"What do you mean Robin would be at the forefront? I understand we're "friends" in his mind, but wouldn't Raven be able to make a really good argument against me?"

He slowly turned around and looked at her. "In a strange way, I'm very happy you're an oblivious girl."

"Excuse me?" she scoffed.

"Robin's obvious attraction will get in the way of logical thinking." He ignored her. "This buys us time to override the security protocol." He crossed his arms.

"Attraction?" she stepped closer to him.

"He's a late adolescent, you understand." He sounded almost annoyed.

"Master, my guy, I'm not someone to be thought of as attractive." She spoke too nonchalantly and walked up next to him, looking at maps and health screens.

Ouch. He thought to himself.

"I'm going to let the 'my guy' slide." He cleared his throat. "Do you have the map?"

"I do." She closed her eyes.

"Do not stray too far from my voice, apprentice. I will describe hallways to you, and you are in charge of dissecting anything Cyborg could have given you."

With a nod, she focused on the entire map of the tower, making herself start at the security room. Slade described that he had old blueprints from Terra, but he anticipated that they would change where everything was located and how wiring was set up.

"Everything goes through Cyborg now." She described, using her hands in midair, like she was searching for something. "The smallest change, and he'll detect it."

He nodded, even though she couldn't see. According to Jane's claims, the vents and the alarms had changed since his strike on the tower, when Terra was his apprentice. The Titans had smartened up. Carefully, Jane verbally explained the new security system, and mentioned that there were two hearts to it. Cyborg and the security room. He understood that Jane couldn't risk being seen, so that's why she didn't tamper with the security right then and there.

"We would have to knock out half of the source." She said. "Either incapacitate Cyborg or knock out the security of the Tower half."

"Even if Cyborg were taken out, the Tower would still hold its own security intact. When you were in the security room, did you notice anything that would indicate a generator system?"

In her mind, inside the map, she entered the security room again and looked around at what she saw. There was a power source, as well as a back-up box.

"Yes, there appears to be one. Honestly, if we could plant droids on the perimeter and wait for the perfect opportunity, like maybe a storm, they could swoop in when the electricity in the air jams the Tower's perimeter signal."

"It's worth looking into." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Good thinking, apprentice."

She jumped at his touch, despite how approving it was, and opened her eyes to look up at him. Behind the mask, it was difficult to read his expressions. Meanwhile, her emotions were easily read all over her face. It was no secret she was relieved by the validation.

"If you do not mind me asking, master." She looked behind him at his computer. "Is there a way for me to input this map onto your systems? Or would you prefer me to write it down—if you have graph paper of course."

"Curious question." He retracted his hand. "Why do you ask?"

"Because the mind-scape method is very risky, and I would not like to accidentally absorb something you would prefer to keep private, I thought I could give us a spare copy. Just in case. I mean, look at the Titans: they have Cyborg and hard copies. Would it hurt to be thorough?"

With a surprising look of approval in his body language, he disappeared into the darkness of his lair without a word. When she believed she had a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief.

I'm actually just afraid of him accidentally poking around in my own head again.

With the little time she had left before he came back, she bent over and put her hands on her knees, allowing her body to partially slump while she took a deep breath.

Shit. She exhaled through her mouth. Am I still that weakened from the ghost mission? Did my body really take that big of a toll?

From the distance, Slade called out to her. She rapidly stood back up as if she had never moved.

"I have graph paper and some materials. You may use the table to plot out the map." He stepped back into the light with multiple rolls of paper, a pencil, and a ruler in his hands. "But need I remind you that your body is still healing. I cannot use you for the mission if you are being irresponsible with your health."

They joined together at the table, where Jane immediately rolled out a sheet of paper and prepped her workspace. She nodded, hearing his statement.

"Your concern is a valid one." She responded flatly. "I have been reckless and injuring myself more than I should be. With that being said, I will make sure I am still useful to you during the recovery process. You will not be disappointed."

Slade took a step back from the table when he saw she had laid out her area and tools. Curious, he tilted his head to the side while she sat down and paid him no attention.

"You know where to find me." He told her.

"Yes, master." She did not look up.

With a final squint at her, he slowly began to walk away and back in the direction where he had been summoned. Though she had not been looking at him, it was easy to sense his intensity and know that he was staring at her. When his footsteps were finally far away enough, she closed her eyes, let out a lengthy exhale and rested her hand over her heart.

I'm sorry, Slade. My efforts are not enough.

She opened her eyes again and stared morosely at her empty sheet of graph paper.

They weren't enough for either of you.

Slade

He had always been a light sleeper, so the sound of his apprentice's knock roused him into complete awareness earlier. It would be difficult to fall back asleep at this point, especially when there were so many variables to plan.

"What on Earth am I going to do with her?" he muttered to himself.

He had taken his mask off and laid down once more atop his blankets, not disturbing the surface too much in case he had to be ready in a hurry. While he had been fully expecting her to come clean about what she had seen regarding his past, he did not anticipate the sudden flatness in her interactions.

Jane had a way about her that could be perceived as generally annoying, though it was on par for an attention-starved eighteen year old. Despite her aim to please, she didn't have a brake pedal and constantly exceeded her limits. Devotion was present, there was no question about that. Even gratitude, something that he had been lacking in his previous apprentices. Robin was so ungrateful that he had to destroy his first lair just to shake the failure, and Terra downright murdered him.

But this one.

The devotion was borderline unhealthy.

He barely even had to do anything. No droids at the nanoscopic level, no suit that connected to her entire nervous system, nothing. All he had to do was imply that her friends were never going to come and save her. It was only an implication.

Was there more to his plan? To persuade her? Absolutely. However, she agreed so quickly that there was no need for anything else. It was appalling. Originally, he believed that she was so dense that molding her would be beyond simple. But now, he wasn't so sure.

The girl wasn't dim-witted, she was lonely.

Slade closed his eyes in thought, which eventually brought him back to sleep.

/

A gentle knock at his bedroom door woke him up again, making him sit up and immediately put his mask back on.

"Apprentice. What is it?"

Her voice was soft, as if she was anticipating a reprimand.

"Master, I am nearly finished with the tower's interior. I thought you might like to approve of it before I call it finished."

He unlocked the door and opened it to see her standing at his attention, but her eyes rested below where he could attempt to meet them. Something was amiss, and it was beginning to bug him.

"That was fast." He began walking.

"It took a few hours, but I'm good at organizational work. Tends to keep my mind busy."

For once, she took the lead when taking him to the table. It was somewhat of a relief; it showed that she had the ability to think for herself. He was also grateful that he snuck a few more hours of sleep before having to deal with more of the plan.

"After I get your approval, I will finish what I have. And then, if it is all right with you, I will rest again."

Upon initial glance, her face looked pale. With further inspection, it was actually damp with sweat—but only slightly. He made a mental note of that as he reached the table to survey her work.

There were three sheets of graph paper on the table with neat pencil lines and simple descriptors as to what he was looking at. She explained to him they were the main hub, the tower structure, and the perpendicular bar that completed the T. The main hub included the security room and their lounge, where most of their planning was completed.

"If you would like, I can make a detailed orchestration of every piece of technology and its layout in the security room, but I was unsure how much detail you would prefer. My apologies."

"No need to apologize."

As he picked up the sheets of paper and evaluated her work, he peered over the top of them to observe her body language. Jane was prone to fidgeting and shuffling her feet when she was nervous, but today was different. Her arms were crossed in front of her, hands folded at her pelvis. As before, her gaze was lowered and flat.

Is it the lack of sleep? The immense activity? Or perhaps is there something else she is not telling me?

He cleared his throat to test her. Immediately she looked up at him, attention returning to her eyes. Concern laced her face and she frowned with her mouth only partly opened.

There she is.

"Is there a problem, master? What can I fix?"

"I can work with this just fine. If I require specific blueprints for the security room, you will be told. This is good work, apprentice. Well done."

This earned a small smile.

Relief.

"Ah, of course. It was the least I could do for you after everything else. I'm happy to have done something right."

Before he could question her statement or ask her to elaborate, she adjusted her supplies into a neat alignment on the table and shifted her gaze away from him.

"Please excuse me, master. I'm afraid I have to lie down. Permission to recharge?"

Jane had NEVER asked for permission like that before. Especially without an apology tacked on at the end. In fact, he lost his composure for a moment and dropped his arms from their rigid position of holding up the paper.

"…Granted."

It almost sounded more like a question than an approval. Jane nodded and turned from him, returning to her designated bedroom with the soft click of the door and a harsh one, in contrast, of the lock. There was a faint "sorry!" as she unlocked the door again.

Slade stood there, perplexed.

Jane

Sleep was a blessing when it came naturally, as opposed to being forced or induced. Or, worse, interrupted. She had successfully slept for several hours and, for the first time in ages, she didn't dream at all. It was almost like she had been freed from a guilty conscience like a bird fleeing a cage. However, it was now the more conflicting question if she was flying straight into another one. Feelings of self-doubt and indecisiveness were normal for her, but there was something deeper than her usual paranoia.

John had powers now. And he was trying to harm the Titans.

Yes, she also was trying to fulfill her mission of annihilating the Titans for abandoning her after leading her on to trusting them so whole-heartedly, but this was different.

All their lives, John had never had powers. Even in the tests that probed for powers, they always came up negative. There was no way in hell that he should be able to do…anything that she watched him perform. Even if the ghost mission was meant to take her mind off of the episode in the city, she could never forget the look on her best friend's face when he confronted her and the Titans.

I'm sorry, John. You were never supposed to be put in a line of fire like this. I never wanted you to have to deal with the burden of power. That kind of life isn't fair.

Realizing it was most likely time to begin re-conditioning herself, she swung her legs over the edge of her bed and stood up. She needed to remain on task while trying to keep her mind at bay. Surely Slade had noticed by now that she was off—but she also hoped that maybe her toned-down character had not caused too much of a stir.

When she opened her door, Slade looked to be approaching it. He stopped and crossed his arms. As usual, it was difficult to detect his mood. However, it appeared to be baseline as he greeted her and turned right around.

"I was about to come check on your recovery." He told her. "Halfway through scanning your drawings into the database, I realized you must have had your mind-map open the majority of the time I was asleep. It must have been taxing during your healing process."

Empathetic summarizing?

Squinting at him, she followed. Despite her own curiosity, she didn't want to make her voice sound confused.

"That's right." She swallowed. "I knew when to stop though. There were brief moments of respite occasionally."

His tone brightened, which was odd.

"It's encouraging to know that you are aware of your limits…but let's shift that focus to when it truly matters."

Understanding that this was a criticism of her recent performances, she gave no other reply than a "yes master". They both allowed a moment of silence to pass while they once again gathered at the table, where all of her drawings had been neatly stacked. He stood on one end, looking at her, while she did not make eye contact on the other side.

"Master, I was going to begin re-conditioning with the droids today so I could be better prepared for what's next, but I was wondering what that "next" would be."

He didn't offer a response and just continued to look at her.

"I was thinking a lot last night and since I'm sometimes a big-picture learner, I thought it might be beneficial to know everything I have to be ready for. During these drawings I didn't quite understand what they were for because each step had only been laid out for me one at a time."

Once again, no response. She began to sweat and she finally looked up to meet his gaze.

"I'd like to know the rest of the plan so I can really fix everything I've done wrong and feel more prepared for the rest."

Slade wasn't giving her much of anything to work with, because he still wasn't responding to her. Jane's cheeks reddened; she felt as if she were giving a speech to a classroom and nobody actually cared for her content. Before she opened her mouth again, he finally spoke.

"It's about time you looked me in the eye."

Her mouth remained open and her eyes widened.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

Mouth closing slowly, she wrung her hands together behind her back as she tried to quickly form a response.

"I would be happy to tell you the rest of the plan, but only if you tell me what has you distracted." He stepped closer to the table. "I cannot have my apprentice distracted."

His second statement dipped into a warning tone and she nodded at him. Her instinct was to lower her head again out of self-pity, but she quickly corrected herself when she remembered that he was most likely not willing to put up with self-deprecation. The problem was finding the proper words without sounding like a moron, while also trying to remain respectable—not creepy—eye contact.

"Have you ever felt the primal need to protect somebody?" she asked him.

Slade seemed appalled at the question, but his tone remained baseline.

"A long time ago."

"You hate to lose. You hate failure. And from what I can tell, when you care about something you become really passionate about it." She clenched her fists. "You said a long time ago. Have you…failed…to protect that person?"

His lack of response answered her question, as well as the increase of intensity in the air.

Get to the point.

"You were puzzled about John. You grew upset that I didn't—that I couldn't—attack him, even on your command. I know that still angers you, so I will not dwell on that, but in that moment I realized that I was a failure."

His stare could bore holes into metal.

"John was the first person I ever wanted to protect. Ever since we met, I made it my personal mission to keep him safe. He was not burdened with having powers. He never needed the injections I was given, and he was never fed chemicals to wash the power away. But I knew that if I acted out, he would be given that treatment. I never wanted him to feel pain or have harm come to him, but every time I made a push to protect, it only hurt him. Everything I did in that orphanage was for him, but no matter what I did he kept getting hurt. Every time. Do you know how that feels?"

His body stiffened. But it was only for a moment.

"Now he has powers." Her tone darkened. "Now he's been exposed to every single sensation I was trying to protect him from. And that man—"

"Brother Blood."

"—has corrupted him with a torturous responsibility. I don't know who he is, or what he intends to do, but I cannot allow him to continue." She narrowed her eyes, not allowing her voice to shake. "This is my fault. I made him escape the orphanage with me, and I made him risk his life based on a ludicrous plan that I rushed through. I didn't want to admit it at the time, but the plan was never solid. That's why it fell apart so easily."

He tilted his head forward, as if saying "I told you so".

"It's almost like I panicked or something." She smirked, which dropped right away. "And because of that, I failed him."

"Despite your efforts to protect him, you have now arrived here." He told her. "Now what are you going to do about it, apprentice?"

After a moment of contemplation, she circled the table to meet him on his side and looked up at him fiercely.

"I am asking you to amend our deal." She told him. "When I agreed to be your apprentice, I made an oath to annihilate the Titans by your side while you helped me hone my powers."

He narrowed his eye at her, which made her volume increase.

"That will not change. I'm actually offended that you think I would even consider leaving."

"Then what is it you are asking of me?"

"Make me strong enough to kill Brother Blood."

John

Within the HIVE's massive training center, John frustratedly attacked androids that looked eerily similar to Cyborg, from the Teen Titans. He wasn't quite sure why Blood had so many copies on hand, but it was convenient. Hexagonal droids flew around him, recording his vitals and the time left in his session. With every blast he landed, and with every vein pulsing with power, he felt on par with a god. Blood had awakened something within him, something he had never truly felt before. It made him thirsty for battle, and thirsty for a kill.

"My boy." Blood's voice coming through the room's speakers halted the droids and John alike. "I have something to share. When you are finished, please report to Hive 1."

"Aye aye, captain." His brows twitched.

Forcing a droid to levitate, he swiftly snapped its neck and let it fall to the ground.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

A memory of Jane calling out to him flashed by, making him shake his head violently. Jane was always playing tricks on his mind; this had to be one of them. Ever since the day where they confronted her and the Titans, he has been paired with a kind of unbridled rage, nibbling at him as he missed certain attacks and targets. As he walked down the corridor to Hive 1, he and Blood's planning chambers, he felt a familiar pain trickle into his temples. Like a knife was repeatedly stabbing him, he flinched every few seconds, teeth clenching through the pain.

"John." Blood's voice snapped him out of his small, painful trance. "What's the matter?"

Without realizing it, he had wandered into the room without a word. He was slightly shaken from this realization, and he needed a moment to collect himself.

I was just in the corridor a moment ago. I know I was.

"John." Blood said again, louder. "What's the matter?"

"I just—"

"You've just been…there for 12 minutes. Yes, I've kept track—"

John swallowed, eyes wide.

12 minutes?!

"It's nothing," he lied. "Just talk to me about what you've found."

After squinting at his pupil suspiciously, Blood decided to let the matter drop for now.

"I've been in and out of the loop about Jane and her master; it appears that they are about to make a move on the Titans. I only know this because of an ability Jane released, one that nearly took her life."

"What do you mean?" his heart skipped a beat.

"I honestly have no idea what she did," he brought up a hologram of Jane's head, "but she released a brain wave so strong that even I could sense it from this far away. It was like her life sprinted into my mind, and I knew exactly that something had happened. Something bad."

"Did it feel like you were experiencing a ghost, or some sort of out-of-body experience?" John questioned. "Like she was right there, but you know for a damned fact that she wasn't?"

"Yes. Exactly like that. But at any rate, that pulse was so strong, it led me to think that they were about to make a move. So even further, I had a thought."

"And?"

"You've been working tediously to improve your power; I believe it is time for…a little field test."