2

"He picks his moments, doesn't he? My God, that man must have serious insomnia to have the strength to terrorize the world at three a.m." Blue Moon seethed, referring to Slade as the alarm began to sound in the middle of the night. Teleka didn't complain, as she couldn't sleep anyway. She had too much on her mind to sleep without nightmares. There was a nagging feeling in her head that something was about to go very, very wrong in her life. Being telepathic, she had learned to live on her instincts.

"Quit whining and let's go, Blue. Isn't this supposed to be your time of day anyway?"

"Technically, yes. In reality, no."

They entered the main living room to find Venom and the Titans were already there, impatiently waiting to move out. "Where is he?" Teleka asked, suddenly business like. "Blue and I'll go ahead and scout it out."

"Right. There's been a random attack downtown," Robin replied hastily to her, itching to move out into the fight.

"Wait a second, Bird Boy. Random attacks usually mean traps. You sure we want to walk into it?"

"There are innocents caught in the crossfire. If it's a trap, we'll get out of it."

Teleka merely shrugged off his slightly-too-serious attitude, opening the window and placing one foot on the ledge to kick off. "Your city, your call. But I want to go on record now as saying I don't like this." She took off, hovering outside and waiting for Blue to accompany her. "Oh, and uh, Beast Boy? You might want to get changed. The pyjama look is so five minutes ago. Like, when we were all asleep?"

Shaking sleep away from him, Beast Boy looked down at his green stripy pyjamas, and raced away, appearing milliseconds later in full costume. "I hate to be awake any time between the hours of midnight and midday. That's my only explanation."

Blue Moon and Teleka soared along at a comfortable pace in silence for a while, but Teleka didn't need her telepathy to know what question was coming as soon as Blue Moon got the nerve up.

"Nothing," she said, hearing the deep intake of breath next to her. "Robin and I grew up together. Then I... moved away."

"The last bit was only half the truth."

"Yeah, well, suppose I'm ashamed of the other half and don't want to talk about it

"Then I wouldn't ask and move onto the next question. Why do you think he should hate you?"

"I don't."

"Yeah, right. Telly, I know you're the telepathic one, but believe it or not, intuition comes with the whole moon-worship gig."

"Because... Listen Blue; I do not want to talk about this. It's history. By the way you just flew straight over our scene." Blue Moon looked back at where Teleka was patiently hovering in the air, a slick, false smirk on her face. "You do a swoop, I'll land and see what I can find out."

Teleka dropped quickly to the ground, in a side-street leading onto a square she was sure could be beautiful, but just then was a pinnacle of chaos. Several things stood out to her immediately: the presence of a single figure that everyone seemed to be running from, and something that frightened her even more.

"Tom!" she gasped, tears beginning to well in her eyes. Her eyes became pure crimson pools as her powers began to take effect. The figure at the centre of the bedlam carried a shining silver katana, pretty much as long as his own body, but within seconds the blood-red light had spread to that too. The few stragglers left in the square put on a last burst of speed at the distraction, giving Teleka her first clear view of the enemy. His jet-black hair and eyes confirmed her fears. She mentally yanked the sword out of his grasp and raised it high into the air, signalling to Blue Moon to stay back for a minute.

Her friend caught the flare and dived toward the Teen Mobile as it approached the square. Landing awkwardly on the bonnet, the car screeched to a halt. Blue clambered to her knees and leaned in the driver's side window. "Give Telly a minute here. She just got one hell of a shock," she muttered before proceeding to explain the situation. The cause of the disturbance, aside from Slade's latest apprentice, was Teleka's younger brother.

"Thomas J. Prentiss Maguire, what the hell do you think you are doing terrorizing innocent people and, may I add, waking up decent hard-working heroes, in the middle of the night?" Teleka shouted like a mother hen from her corner.

"Telly? Where're you hiding, sis?" he called malevolently, in no way like the Tom she knew.

"You're the one hiding. Behind that goddamn orange mask." She brought the sword down into her hand and stepped out into the light. "I gave you this," she said, hefting the silver weight between her hands, "When I decided I didn't need weapons. Why are you doing this?"

"Just following your example. I heard younger siblings tend to do that sometimes."

"Oh, please, don't even try to pull this!! Trust me bro, my example is not the one to follow. I wasn't given a choice. You can choose what you want to do."

"I did! And I'm enjoying myself. You don't know what it's like when your sister's the big hero all the time. As soon as people find out they forget about me and ask for an introduction."

"Damn, I leave my sad music tape in my other costume the one night I need it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out of this while you can, Tom

"Why? I'm enjoying the attention." He fired some sort of blast off from his wrist, but Teleka, reflexes honed from years of dodging attacks, lifted up the old fashioned sword and deflected the beam into the sky. "Especially from the sister who abandoned me."

"Don't you listen? I had no choice!" Teleka screamed, completely infuriated by his childish ignorance. "But I guess it's once an annoying brat, always an annoying brat with you, huh Tom?"

"Call me Swipe. That's what he calls me."

"Ooh, catchy," she muttered sarcastically. "But fine then, Swipe. I have had enough of my past without you reliving my mistakes. And knowing you, you'll be too proud to admit them. You'll be stuck."

"At least I know what I want to be," he replied sourly, jabbing at her with finality that said he had chosen his path.

Having seen the bolt in the sky and heard Teleka's screaming, the Titans and remaining members of the Triquetra had come to her aid, just as she had begun to lose the fight. Her hand fell limp and the sword clattered to the ground. For a minute she stood silent, in shock, trying to absorb the knowledge that her brother had officially gone over to the dark side. Her eyes fluttered open, pure red again, and Swipe floated up into the air in the red glow. "Go," she said simply. "Don't come back." She dropped him onto a rooftop and turned away.

"I don't make promises I can't keep, Telly." With that, he disappeared away into the night and Teleka finally released a long, slow breath. But not everyone was relieved. Robin, for one, grabbed her shoulders, shaking her as though trying to snap her out of a trance.

"What do you think you're doing letting him go? He needs to be apprehended."

Teleka wrenched his hands away and stood back, trying (and failing) to not get too angry. "He is my brother-"

"That's no excuse!"

"Would you just let me finish? Because I'm telepathic, and we're related, I have a connection with him. He might lead us to Slade." Teleka was running out of steam, dropping her head and disabling her powers. She had only just created the plan. The fact that he was a relation had been her excuse. "I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea."

"No it wasn't," Raven said hovering with the others, at least a foot or two away from her.

"I agree. Your idea is good Telly. It is good to have a direct link to Slade." Starfire was being her usual optimistic self, trying to lighten the situation by summing it up in a way that made everyone feel good.

"Yeah, yeah. Can we go home now? I'm tired," Beast Boy yawned.

Later that night, or to be technical, morning, Teleka walked barefoot out into the main room. She couldn't sleep with so many revelations in her head. She walked in to the kitchen and jumped into a tense hover when she found she wasn't alone. Raven sat in front of her at the counter, spoon set deep into a tub of ice cream. "Not sleeping?" Raven asked blandly.

"I'm awake, aren't I?" Teleka replied dryly, gratefully accepting the spoon being offered and scooping it full of triple chocolate. "Too much in my head."

"Ever tried meditating?"

"Every night, but don't tell me you've never felt like there are some things you can't push away."

"What your brother's doing isn't your fault, you know."

"So how come I feel incurably like it is? He said he was following my example..."

"...Which is ridiculous because you're a good guy now. Anyway, in my experience, chocolate can sometimes be the key to push it all away. Just don't tell Starfire I was at her tub."

"I never had you down as a believer in alternative-alternative therapy. But I can see your reasoning for the chocolate. So what has you up?"

"The same incurable feeling that something is really wrong."

"And love." Teleka smiled, disguising the controversial words with a cough.

"No!"

"Now you see, if you really weren't, you would have ignored that, so you see, I was right. And yes, Venom's unattached."

"I don't know what you mean," Raven replied, feigning confusion, but the slight blush in her cheeks said otherwise. "So are you really going to try and read Tom over this distance?"

"Yeah, but I figure I'll fake it for a few days. I just, need a bit to recover, y'know?"

"I know what you mean there, now. But one thing's puzzling me. If Tom said he was following your example, but he's Slade's apprentice..." Teleka nodded quickly, turning away and hanging her head in shame. "Oh my God," Raven muttered quietly.

"You can't tell anyone Rae. Noone else knows and I want it to stay like that. I'm not proud of some of the things I've done, and that's one of my secrets. It's just that you figured it out. I was never given a choice with either apprenticeship, and some things are hard to let go of." She placed both hands flat on the counter, showing her pointed silver nails now that she was minus her leather gloves, "Those were from her, and this," she continued, raising her short sleeve to reveal a faded red brand shaped like a jagged S, "was from him."

"How come Robin doesn't have one of those?"

"Robin?"

"Oops. You didn't know?"

"Obviously not. And he has the nerve; no scratch that, the courage to lecture me? Just let him try!"

"No!" Raven said loudly. "You can't tell anyone that I told you. Big Titan secret."

"I'll keep yours, if you'll keep mine."

"Why don't we just pretend tonight never happened?" Raven suggested, digging her spoon into the tub again, but finding all she hit was the bottom. "Star's going to kill me."

"She could always kill someone else..." Teleka smiled slyly, eyeing the chocolate residue on her own spoon.

"WHO ATE MY ICE CREAM?!?" Starfire yelled the next morning, so angry you could almost see the steam spouting from her ears. Raven and Teleka looked at each other, sharing mortified smiles before turning back to their books. Someone else would probably take the blame, and noone would be spared. Both pairs of eyes grew even wider when Beast Boy, their unspoken saviour emerged from his bedroom... face covered in Teleka's chocolate brown smudges.

"Beast Boy," Star murmured dangerously. "I demand to know if you ate my ice cream."

"No!"

"Then how can you explain the triple chocolate smudges on your face?"

"Isn't it a little early to think of ice cream, Star? It's nine-thirty!" Starfire simply turned away, her nose as far in the air as it could go. Beast Boy crashed out on the sofa, twirling a finger around his ear, closely followed by Venom and Blue Moon who had just entered. Raven immediately buried her face in the horror novel she was reading, but only to disguise her puce façade.

"Good morning, people," Venom said cheerfully. Teleka and Blue knew from experience his morning happiness had worn off by the time the day had actually started.

"Hi," Raven muttered in a tiny voice, only glimpsing around the edge on the book for a second.

Beast Boy shared a look with Venom, who was about to collapse into laughter. "Hey! I bet I could beat you in a fight any day."

"Sure you could. I know how to prove you wrong. Teleka?"

Telly pulled the Gamestation program from the messy table beside her and threw it casually in their direction. "Knock yourselves out, kids." Once rid, she turned to Raven, smiling widely, and was about to start teasing her, when suddenly her smile faded. She returned to her book, avoiding Robin's masked eyes as he and Cyborg entered the room.

"You need to talk to him," Raven whispered.

'I know, but I can't face it,' Teleka sent back telepathically. From here on in she was just really reading Raven's thoughts.

'You'll have to sometime. Stop putting it off and get it over with.'

'You're right... Later.'

'Telly...'

'No, I will, I really will, I promise... if he brings it up.'

'This isn't healthy, you know.'

'Later!!!'

"Robin, you have to talk to her. Give her the chance to explain why she did the things she did. She's too taken up with apologising. You have to give her the chance."

"Suppose she doesn't want the chance? Suppose she's proud of it?"

"She's not." The voice had been Blue Moon, who had secretly heard the conversation and now entered the quiet kitchen to fetch sodas for herself and everyone else. "The one thing I can never get her to talk about is her dark, mysterious past because she's too ashamed to admit to any of it. Just thought that might help."

She exited as coolly as she had come in, and Raven turned a satisfied glance to Robin. "I rest that case."

"Ok, ok, I'll talk to her. Later."

That afternoon, Teleka lay on her bed in one of Titan Tower's many spare rooms, scribbling frantically in her diary. Reflexively she slammed it shut when the door began to slide open. 'Come in,' she thought sarcastically, but all her toughness fell away when she saw that it was Robin entering. "Hey," she said weakly, sliding the diary back under her pillow with one hand. If anyone ever saw what was inside that for these last few weeks, she would have trouble keeping her secrets secret.

"Hey," he replied, equally nervous. Seeing each other brought back good and bad memories for both of them. "Listen, do you, uh, want to go out for pizza or something?"

"Pizza is good, yeah. But wouldn't food kinda be a little distracting? If Raven said to you what she said to me, you really want to talk."

"Pretty much. Want to go down by the harbour instead?"

"Sounds good to me."

Teleka sat on the tiny wooden jetty; sticking out of an island near the one Titan Tower was placed on. It was freezing out here, but the cold wasn't the reason she was so tense. "So, what do you want to know?"

"The truth. And not just the parts you want me to hear, all the gory details."

"I'm amazed a busy crime fighter like you has the next century free in his date-book," Teleka snorted. "I don't even know where to start."

"Start with why you joined up with her," Robin suggested contemptuously, referring to her first mistress.

"Ooh, easy question. Death threat, plus the fact that I had no idea how evil she was."

"Why did you stay when you found out?" And so the conversation went on, with Robin asking questions and Teleka giving the most truthful answers she could bear to give. After a little while, she got sick of twisting the truth and threw out everything she had. It was as if she were dishing the dirt on someone else and not herself. Eventually, every little detail about her past had escaped. Except of course the insignificant little matter of Slade, but it seemed Robin had figured that out for himself.

Rolling up her long sleeve with one hand, he placed the other over the symbol. "And what about this?"

"I don't want to talk about that. Just like you don't want to talk about Red X and something so closely related to that symbol it's scary."

"How do you know about that?"

"When you lived in Gotham, you knew what was going on on this side of town. Do you think I'm blind, deaf and utterly ignorant?"

"Both those times were totally different. I did it to protect my friends."

"And I did it because any other choice would be suicide, 'k? Is that all right by you? It's not as if I need the green light from you to live my life! Because no matter how you look at it, nobody forced you to hate me, except yourself. You control-freak, bossy, hothead, selfish, annoying pig!!! " Teleka was beginning to break down, letting go of walls and feelings that she had held in place for years through sheer will power. "Something's telling me you still do." With tears streaming behind her like rain, Teleka took off into the sunset, not knowing where she was going, or what she planned to do, except that she had to get away.

"Teleka, wait!" Robin was utterly confused. What had he said to turn her fragile mood back into the tough walls she usually held up?

"I'm sorry," she muttered, turning in mid-air, knowing this exact moment was a grim reminder for both of them, of one night that seemed so long ago. When, contrary to all her beliefs, Teleka had done the one thing she had sworn never to do. But that's another story...

"Deja vu all over again," Robin said to himself, remembering what had first caused all the tension between them. That night...