Chapter 19: Fallen

"Keep up appearances, there lies the test,

The world will give thee credit for the rest.

Outward be fair, however foul within,

Sin if thou wilt, but then in secret sin."

Charles Churchill

The next few weeks were uneventful, at least by Titan standards.

Blackfire was recovering, and arraignments had been made that she could stay on Earth, so Starfire was in a much better mood. Gar and Victor continued their video game wars. Noel and Raven continued to avoid each other.

And Robin did research.

He had found two cases that fit what he was looking for. Same type of injury inflicted the same way. One had happened nearly two months ago, the second one three weeks later. Besides that, nothing.

But they were similar…

It would have left it at that, if not for one thing: Noel continued to go out at night.

He never gave any explanation, saying it was personal. Robin had even followed him a few times. All Noel did was go to a café. Actually, a rather specific kind of café, populated by a certain breed of dark, broody people. Noel sat there, drank coffee, and listened to the poetry and conversations. The second time Robin had followed, he had even tried reading something himself. It was terrible, and the crowd let him know it. Even Noel had admitted it was crap.

So all Noel seemed to be guilty of was pining over Raven.

Unless he knew he was being followed…

Robin banished the thought. If it was true he would know…

But…

No, he was wrong. Just a coincidence. There was no way.

Then again, they said hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

What about a man?

"Congratulations Noel!" Starfire said as she appeared in front of Savior, who was eating breakfast. His surprise nearly made him choke on his muffin. By the time he had managed to recover his ability to breathe, Starfire had produced a box and was offering it to him.

"It isn't my birthday…"Savior said.

"It's almost as good! You have been a Titan for four months now!"

"Uh…"

"On my planet, a warrior is accepted into a clan after they have been tested for four months. You have passed any and all tests we gave you, and I wanted to give you something to show that now and forever you are a part of this team!" Starfire said, grinning.

"Uh…ok…thanks…" Savior said, taking the box. He hesitatingly opened it, not knowing if Starfire's alien customs had just made her give him a bomb or something that could prove hazardous.

In the end it was nothing more then a jacket, much like the ones Savior normally wore. Except this one had a big T on the right shoulder.

"You made this? For me? By yourself?" Savior said, impressed.

"Well, Gar helped! I never knew he could sew!" Starfire declared loudly. In the next room Savior heard a loud groan and then laughter as Cyborg assumingly mocked Gar for this bit of knowledge he had acquired due to Starfire's very loud voice.

"Thanks." Savior said, putting on the jacket. It fit like a glove, and the stitching was top notch.

"It was my pleasure! Now we are true teammates!"

"Uh, Kory, there isn't anything in this jacket that could hurt me, is there?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, you're still learning Earth customs…plus you may still have the flu for all I know."

"The flu is long gone! And so is the weird way it made me feel! No worries!" Starfire said, grinning.

"Oh. That's good. But that makes me think Kory. What if you catch another disease?"

"Like what?"

"Well, if a flu caused that odd feeling that Blackfire took advantage of, I'd hate to think of what something else could do, like chicken pox or anemia…"

"What? Anemboa-mea? What does that do? Does it turn me into a single celled organism?" Starfire said, looking worried.

"No no, anemia. It's a condition humans get if they don't have enough iron in their blood."

"You have METAL in your blood?"

"Yes! No! Uh, kinda! We, uh…hey look Robin!" Savior said, pointing. When Starfire looked away Savior scampered off, not in the mood for a long explanation of exactly how the human body had metal in it.

"Morning Kory." Robin said.

"Robin, I am worried. There is a disease I might catch that will turn my blood into metal." Starfire said.

Later, Robin wondered just what Noel had said to his girlfriend.

He had been wondering a lot about Noel lately.

In any case, Robin was not going around making false accusations. Nothing drove a wedge between a team quicker then distrust, especially if it was caused by accusations (even worse if those accusations were later proven false). So he had kept his research to himself, not even telling Gar and Victor what he was doing. They had quickly dismissed what they had learned of Blackfire's attack as just wild thinking. He didn't even tell Batman or Oracle, using his own resources to gather data.

And so it remained as just a nagging, horrifying possibility.

Until that very night.

Until the night Grace Elfsan died.

It all began with something familiar: Noel was going out again. Indeed, Robin and Starfire had been out themselves when he had left, and had found out in a half-hand way from Beast Boy, who was losing at the video game again. Raven was reading in the lounge, and Robin and Starfire continued lessons in Earth etiquette that Robin taught Starfire whenever he had a chance.

A loud yell came from the couch, indicating Beast Boy had pulled off another come from behind win that broke Cyborg's streak. Whenever that happened, Victor usually turned the game off, and he did. The television game on.

"This is an action news flash! There have been reports that television newscasters have been suddenly exploding…"

A loud boom echoed from the television as Cyborg turned it off.

"Anyone up for a movie?"

"Rented or theater?"

"I don't know…"

"Sorry Titans, I'm afraid there may be no movies tonight."

The new voice got the Titans's attention, and if it hadn't, the entrance certainly would have, as the man floated in.

He was dressed all in green and black, an armoured suit that had a symbol in the center of his chest. His armoured mask was also green, as was the energy surrounding him as he flew in. Robin's jaw dropped a bit.

"Green Lantern? What are you doing here?" Robin said. Kyle Rayner, the current Green Lantern, was the bearer of a proud legacy of superheroes and metahumans. They had all wielded the power of the Green Lantern Power Ring, a device that allowed anything the wearer imagined to be manifested in solid form. It suited Kyle, an artist, well. He was a member of the Justice League and a tried and true hero. And while he was a nice guy, he wasn't in the habit of just dropping into other superhero group headquarters for a visit.

"Wish I could say likewise, but business. You may have heard of it already."

"What?"

"There have been several deaths around my city lately."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Ok, why are you speaking to us?" Robin said, though in the back of his head Robin was starting to come to a sick realization.

"I wasn't planning too. It was actually by accident. I was dropping by Star Labs with a prisoner…and while there I saw that alien girl you tangled with a few weeks ago."

"Oh no, is something wrong with my sister now?" Starfire asked, horror seeping into her eyes.

"No…it was her injuries."

The Titans were quiet.

"She was strangled so violently that her throat was crushed…yet her spinal column was hardly damaged at all. That was her injuries…and over the past several weeks, there have been several deaths in my city that match that…how shall we say…unique signature."

"I…see…" Robin said. The sick feeling was becoming overwhelming.

"I checked with Batman if there were others. There have been. In a few other cities as well. And when Batman ran the data it showed that all the cities seem to radiate out from a center pattern…this city. Jump City is in the center. I think the killer is here, and I'm pretty damn sure he's or she's a meta. There's no other way to explain the nature of those injuries."

Robin felt like he was spinning over a vast chasm, as more and more pieces began fitting in, forming a picture he didn't want to look at.

"So I figured I would drop in and ask your help. Have you heard of anything?" Green Lantern said.

"I have." Robin said quietly. He couldn't hold it in any more.

"Oh? What have you heard Robin?" Lantern asked.

"I…did some research…after….and I…"

"What is it man? C'mon, spit it out!" Beast Boy chided.

Robin blinked and then spoke.

"I think its Noel."

Grace Elfsan was a woman that history would have never noticed, and for the good reason that she was nothing in the grand scheme of things. She was a prostitute, addicted to heroin and crack and just beginning the long terrible descent into death that drugs and the streets brought to women like her.

Except she made it there much quicker then expected, as she cut through an alleyway. She was about 2/3 of the way through it when the figure landed in front of her. She stopped, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Hello, pretty birdie." He said, and thrust out his right hand. A coil of energy flew from his palm, striking out and wrapping around Grace's throat before she could blink.

Most would wish that some mercy could be granted to this poor woman as the coil of energy strangled the life out of her, but that would be a lie. Her life was slowly and carefully stripped from her until she was nothing more then a shell when she finally expired.

He drew her close as she died, inhaling as her last breath coughed out of her throat, drawing the final air into him. Ah, so sweet.

He tossed Grace Elfsan away. He no longer cared about her. He just cared about moving on to another. His rage just grew with each one.

He needed another, tonight.

And if he had gathered correctly, it would be soon…

The Titans and GL had listened as Robin had explained his theory on why Noel could be the killer. The worst part, in Robin's opinion, was Starfire's look of total incomprehension throughout the explanation. She understood what Robin was talking about: she just couldn't accept a word of it.

But, as Robin laid it out, it seemed pretty damning. Noel was gone during at least three of the nights that murders had been committed. The murders had been committed in a way no normal man or even most metahumans could accomplish, but it fit the Shimmer. It could certainly exert the amount of pressure needed with the precision that had been shown. Never mind that Noel had turned up last when Blackfire had been hurt, or more specifically, AFTER Blackfire had been hurt.

But despite the means and possible opportunity, Robin's theory kept hitting the brick wall of motive. He, nor any of the Titans, could think of one, never mind actually believe that Noel was killing people.

"I can't listen to this, guys. I'm watching television." Cyborg said, leaving the room.

"Victor…" Robin called after him. "I know. I really…"

"Look Tim, the evidence is all flimsy and relies on "Well if's" and "Only if's". I don't think you need to be accusing your teammate." Lantern said.

"Agreed. I cannot fathom Noel hurting a fly." Starfire said.

"Neither can I. He's got his problems, but a killer? No." Beast Boy agreed, and left to watch television with Cyborg.

"It was just a thought…Robin, can I use your computer? I need to check in with the JL." Lantern said.

"Sure, it's through there." Robin said, pointing. Green Lantern left the room.

It took about four seconds for both Starfire and Robin to look at Raven.

"What?" she said.

"I think you know."

"No, I don't."

"You know." Robin said.

"I DID NOT DO WHAT I DID IN SPITE! I HAD TO DO IT!" Raven suddenly yelled. A nearby lamp exploded, and Raven recoiled, clutching her chest.

"Raven? Are you ok?"

Raven fought back the burning, and it faded quickly.

"Yes. Just heartburn."

"I see."

"Look, you know what? Let's nip this in the bud. I know how we can solve this." Raven said.

"How? Surely you do not think Noel is guilty, do you Raven?" Starfire asked.

"I'm not assuming anything." Raven said. "There is something I can do. It involves Noel's Shimmer."

"What about it?"

"I'm an empath, a sorceress. I can sense things that would escape you. Every specific talent, especially one that manifests like Noel's, has a mark. If Noel HAS, somehow, done these things…then I could sense the Shimmer's mark on the woman. If there's no mark it's someone else…"

Raven trailed off.

"And if it is on the women?" Starfire asked.

Raven was silent.

"Sounds good Raven, but first we would need…"

"Another body?"

Robin and Starfire jumped, and then turned to look at Cyborg standing in the doorway, his face grim.

"It's on the news. A new victim. Same marks as the previous ones. Whoever is out there has killed again."

A morgue is an eerily impersonal place. Here, the cold meat structures of what were once living, breathing human beings were taken, carved up, examined, put back together, and shipped off to be buried in the equally uncaring ground. The dead don't mind much though. Such things, by then, are beyond their caring.

Grace Elfsan's body had been brought in, but a scheduling error had caused there to be no mortician on duty. The police were too busy to look after the body, and besides, most people regarded tales of grave robbers to be urban legends or exaggerated at best. Hence, the morgue was not guarded closely, hell it wasn't guarded at all.

Which made it easy for the Titans to slip in, brought into the building via Raven's teleportation talent. Green Lantern was with them, and he went to watch the door. If anyone showed up, his ring would allow them to be undisturbed until they finished their task. Exactly what GL would do to keep them from being disturbed was left up in the air, but Robin was happy enough not to know.

"How long do you think it'll take Batman or your other friend to contact us?" Beast Boy asked.

"Could be minutes, could be days. You never know what's gonna come up." Robin said as he went over to a file cabinet and began scanning.

It didn't take him long to find where the dead flesh once known as Grace Elfsan resided. And despite the fact that the Titans had seen bodies before, Starfire (and though he refused to admit it, Beast Boy) gasped as Robin pulled the body out. Thankfully, someone had left a sheet on.

"You sure this is her?" Beast Boy said.

"Toe tag says so. Ok Raven, do your thing." Robin said, anticipation and fear boiling in his gut.

Raven stepped over and extended her hand, placing it over Grace's corpse. She closed her eyes and began chanting to herself.

"Still no one." Green Lantern said from his spot. Robin rather admired that the man, a member of the greatest superhero team on the planet, and recently having possessed god-like powers before he gave them up for a great act of generosity, was humble enough to listen to a group of teenagers.

Then a voice crackled at Robin's belt. Robin started, and then unclipped his communicator.

"Robin, this is Cy. I'm on my way there."

"What? Why?"

"Remember how you sent a message to Batman? Well a reply got sent almost as soon as you had left. At first I didn't really see anything important: it was just gathered data on the victims. But then…Robin you have to…"

And that was the last Robin heard as Raven recoiled with a gasp, banging against the wall behind her. Everyone in the room jumped again.

"Raven!" Robin said, running over.

Raven didn't reply. She just blinked a few times.

"Raven?"

"…No….oh by Azarath no…no…" Raven said, and Robin could see there were tears in her eyes.

Then he knew for sure, and despite all the terrible feelings in anticipation for this possible reality, he couldn't prepare for the shockwave of horror that washed over him.

He almost didn't want Raven to speak. As if speaking somehow would make it irrevocably real, if the fact would turn out to be a horrible mistake if Raven just kept silent. But she didn't, and in the end it was all the worse.

"I…I…I did the spell exactly. I even did it twice in case of a mistake…Noel…I can sense him…the Shimmer…it's on this woman. He did this." Raven said.

The silence that filled the room was, appropriately, like that of a tomb. Even Green Lantern, who had been betrayed a few times himself over his life, found himself in the quiet horror that comes when you realize a teammate, a person you trusted, fought with, liked, and maybe even more, had fallen from the grace he seemed to possess into the terrible things that mankind did to itself.

"But…WHY?" Beast Boy said.

"I think I can answer that."

This time everyone jumped at Cyborg's sudden voice, as the metal man appeared behind Green Lantern. How he managed to sneak in was not asked, as everyone cared more about the sheath of papers he held.

"I didn't notice this at first…" Cyborg said as he laid the papers out on the table. "But when I did…I think it answers everything."

Robin began flipping open the files even as Cyborg continued to lay them down. By the time he was finished there were nearly twenty of them.

The first woman, despite her terrible throat injury, didn't really look all that remarkable. Neither did the second, or the third. Until you started to notice the similarities.

By the time all the Titans saw all the women, they knew. Just to drive it home, Beast Boy went over and numbly pulled back the sheet that covered Grace Elfsan's body. It matched.

In some cases it was slight, in others more obvious, but it was all there.

All the women looked like Raven.

There were no comforts for these times, Kyle Rayner thought as he watched the Titans try to come to grips with what they had learned. For all that was said and written that said that those with extraordinary powers were somehow more then human, in the end, sometimes terribly so, all superheroes were far too human.

And sometimes humans went bad. Terribly, horribly bad.

He had a feeling what the Titans were going to do next. He also had a feeling they would ask him to help. And he would.

He may have only met Noel briefly, but his deeds tainted him as much as if he had been a Titan himself. He had sworn to protect people and instead he had turned on them, using them as his prey.

Such things would not be stood for.

Robin, ironically, ended up trying to comfort Raven. Starfire was really beyond comforting: she accepted what the evidence and what Raven had sensed pointed to but she could not understand it. Neither could Beast Boy and Cyborg. But while they were shocked, it was clear that Raven was in pain, as she turned away. She tried to keep her aloof pose but Robin saw right through it, and when he walked around to look at her face he could clearly see that she was fighting to hold back tears. Two had managed to fight their way free and had trickled down her cheeks.

"I didn't, I couldn't…" Raven said.

"I know." Robin replied.

"I didn't want to hurt him, but I did. I knew he was hurt. I knew he was angry. But I never suspected, never dreamed, that he could…why…how…oh Noel…" Raven said, her breath hitching.

"I know. I know Raven. But you did nothing wrong. It takes two to make a relationship, and he should have accepted it. But he didn't. And he's done a very bad thing because of that Raven. This is not your fault. It's his."

Raven blinked a few more times, and then the pain vanished from her eyes, replaced with steel. She understood. And she knew what had to be done.

"Titans, listen up." Robin said, turning to his group. "I know you don't want to accept it, I certainly don't myself. Even if you had laid out the pictures in front of me I would not have accepted it. But Raven read his mark. She cannot be mistaken. Noel Collins, aka Savior, has become a killer." Robin said, his words cold. He knew what had to be done too.

And despite their horror and pain, the same look was coming into the eyes of the others. Some things did not need to be said.

"There will be time for grief later. This is now. And now that we know what Noel has done, we have to act. He has betrayed the city and the people he swore he would protect, he has betrayed our cause, and he has betrayed US. As much as it hurts, we have to do what is necessary."

"I'll help." GL said. Robin nodded and then turned away.

"We're going to find him. And we're going to put him down. HARD."

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer they say…but what happens when you cannot tell which is which…?

To Be Continued