1

Triquetra Headquarters: A landmark Gotham city building, shaped like three triangles touching at one point, and connected by a circular corridor. Normally a peaceful place, and home of three teenage heroes. Normally.

"Teleka! You've been in that bloody bathroom for two hours! Get out!" Blue Moon screeched through the door, but received no reply. She filled her lungs again, ready to shout again, but the door swung open and all the breath was knocked out of her. "What the-? Where are you going?" She stared in mock horror as her friend exited the room, not in her trademark uniform for once. Instead, she wore a red halter top and black denim jeans, her hair scraped up into a chic bun. "What happened to you?"

"Out, and nothing happened, don't worry."

"Oh, out. I get it. With Speedy?"

"Is it any of your business?"

"Um... Yes?" she hazarded bravely. Teleka simply laughed and shook her head as a warning. "Fine, fine, don't tell me then. But I'll know by the time you get back."

"Sure you will," Teleka sighed confidently, walking past her best friend and downstairs. Venom, her other teammate, simply raised a single eyebrow as she stalked past him on her way out. "Don't even start. Blue Moon already tried." He raised his hands in silent surrender and returned to channel flicking. Teleka stepped outside, smiling as she shut the door behind her. In her books, that had been one of her easier escapes.

Blue Moon returned to the living room when the door shut, still looking out through the glass after her. "What do you think that's all about?"

"Probably meeting Speedy. What are you asking me for? You're the one who reads her diary," Venom answered tersely.

"You're right!" Blue gasped, "That's what I'll do!" She blurred away at her usual speed of light and returned with the black book, flicking through it as she collapsed on the sofa. "That's funny..." she murmured. "She hasn't written anything in three days. And the last time she disappeared on me like this was three days ago."

"It's probably nothing. Maybe she got a new diary and it's hidden," Venom taunted her. "Drop it. Ask Telly when she gets back."

The next morning, Venom almost choked on his coffee when Blue Moon once again blurred through the living room and stopped in front of him, her eyes wide and almost afraid. "Must've been a hell of a night Ven!" she said worriedly.

"Excuse me?" he asked, pushing her back slightly to give him room to breathe.

"Let me spell it out. Teleka. Not. Back! Pager. Phone. Communicator. Turned. Off. Got it?!"

"I'm sure she's fine Blue," Venom reassured her, laughing slightly. "Think about it. Maybe it was late last night, and rather than biking home in the dark, Telly crashed at Speedy's place. She's fine."

"Do you still think she's fine?" Blue fretted around lunchtime, blurring back and forth across the room. By then, Venom was also beginning to worry.

"Would it help you relax, so you can stop giving me a headache, if I called Speedy to ask where she went?"

"Actually..." Blue cried, just as loudly, pausing in midair before she dropped downwards to her favourite armchair. "Yeah, yeah, that would be good." She coiled up and turned the remote controlled television to face her as he walked out of the room. Every minute calmed her down slightly. She had been able to tell last night from Teleka's voice that she was indeed going out with Speedy, so obviously he would know where she was, right? 'Right,' she told herself comfortingly, just as Venom returned. All the comfort faded as he stood there simply looking at her. "What? Oh God, V, don't give me that, just tell me what he said already!"

"You won't like it..."

"Tell me!" she growled fiercely, blurring up inches from his face.

"Okay! Okay! Step back a bit! Speedy says he doesn't know where Teleka is, and also... she didn't show up last night. He tried to contact her as well. No luck."

"What? She can't have dropped off the face of the earth! Something's happened to her.... Oh, Ven! What are we gonna do?"

"Calm down. There's another reasonable explanation. What if she was in Jump City, or Metropolis? Her communicator, pager and phone would all be out of range. She could be at Titans Tower. She could be helping out Supergirl again, you know they're tight. She could be doing any number of things."

"But, you're missing the obvious thing Venom! Why wouldn't she have said anything? Why would she go without telling us? Why hasn't she gotten in contact? Something about this just doesn't sit right with me, V. And even you've got to admit..."

"I know. Something stinks. But we might as well check it out before we send out search parties."

Blue managed to momentarily calm herself enough to organize Venom's ideas into a plan. "Fine! Fine... You take point with the Titans; I'll talk to Supergirl. It'll work out fine!"

"Hey! Anybody? Where's that phone I hear?" Beast Boy shouted around the main room, sparking off a frantic search for the telephone. Infuriated by the constant noise, Raven broke from her meditation, lifting all the mess and the rubbish littering the room high into the air. The contraption lay on the breakfast bar, glowing black as Raven turned it to speakerphone.

"Hello?" she deadpanned, returning to her concentration.

"Rae? It's Venom. Is everyone there?"

"Uh... yeah," answered each of the six titans in unison, hearing the obvious concern on his voice.

"Is Teleka there?"

"Uh... No," they replied together, before Robin continued. "Haven't seen her. Isn't she at Triquetra HQ?"

"Would I be calling if she was?" Venom snapped curtly. "I'm sorry, it's just... she went out last night, didn't show up at Speedy's and she hasn't come back. Blue and I are getting kind of worried."

"Kind of!" Blue Moon could be heard screaming on the other end of the line. "Supergirl hasn't seen her, she was with Aqualad, and the same goes for him. Either Telly's lying dead somewhere, or she's dropped off the face of the bloody Earth!!!"

"Blue, calm down," Terra told her over the phone. "Go swoop over Gotham, you might catch her."

"Who knows what she's come up against... Gotham's not a safe place at night, even for a girl like Teleka," Cyborg murmured to Raven. Raven stayed silent, slightly stunned. It seemed Blue Moon and Venom had checked out anywhere she might have gone alone. To her, it honestly didn't sound like Teleka's behaviour.

"She cannot have dropped off the face of the earth," Starfire tried to reason. "For one, the earth does not have a face. And secondly, I believe the gravity of your planet makes this impossible." Beast Boy pulled up next to her and tried to explain the theory of a figure of speech.

"I've got to go," Venom said hurriedly. "Blue's on the communicator. She says she's run into trouble. If you hear anything, call us, okay?" The dial tone took over when he hung up.

"Well... That wasn't what I was expecting to do today," quipped Beast Boy.

Blue Moon had found herself in the centre of the street, facing off to two formidable figures. The first was a not-so-typical, tall dark and, she had to admit, rather handsome villain, dressed entirely in black. The other was female, dressed quite scantily in purple, with a long blonde ponytail.

"Aw, Daimen, I think she's lonely," said the girl, swinging around behind him with pleading puppy dog eyes. "I wonder where all her friends went..."

"You mean the Snake and the other one, the cute redhead... God what was her name?" he asked her, making it obvious that he already knew.

"Teleka."

"Yeah... I wonder where she went, Nocturne." Nocturne laughed wickedly and smirked at Blue, who realized quite suddenly what they were getting at.

"I swear, if you've harmed one hair on her redhead, I'll..."

"You'll?" asked Daimen sarcastically, as Blue found herself unable to move. Nocturne held her palm towards her, her eyes closed in concentration. "C'mon, humour me here!"

"I'll... think of something when you call your little girlfriend off," Blue fumbled helplessly, drawing more laughter from the two.

"I can think of a few things!" Venom jumped into the conversation over the roar of his motorbike, leaping the machine straight over Blue Moon's head and aiming straight for Nocturne. However with a flick of her hand, the bike froze in mid-air and threw him off, so he landed beside Blue Moon.

"This is too easy," giggled the girl with her stiff English accent. "But oh well. Do you want to take care of them, or shall I just stop their hearts with their dear Teleka's powers?"

"You stole her powers? You little bitch! I'll bloody kill you both!" Blue screamed while Venom quietly struggled against the hold.

"You and what army, Miss Moon?" Daimen muttered sarcastically, leaning down to her face with a sadistic smile on his face.

"This one. I swear, if you've so much as touched Teleka." Blue moved her head slightly as Daimen fell flat on his face between her and Venom, knocked over by an energy arrow. She laughed victoriously as it appeared Speedy had come to the rescue.

"Nocturne, freeze him!" shouted Daimen as he spun and began trading blows with Speedy.

"I can't! I've only got two bloody hands. And those, I believe, would be put to better use fighting!" Nocturne released her telekinetic hold over Blue Moon and Venom and reached to her belt. Her hands came away with tiny capsules between the fingers, and as she spread her hands they were flung towards the pair. Blue tried to rush Nocturne from her left, but found she was glued to the ground with deep violet foam that stretched but wouldn't break.

Venom called out to her before he attempted to attack the new enemy on the other side, only to find her stretched out hand freezing him again. Nocturne sealed her fist, not only crumpling Venom up uncomfortably, but also activating a change in one of her intricate mechanical bracelets. The thickest of the round bars it was constructed from rose above the others. The sides folded out with painstaking precision and blinding speed as the rest of the bars began to flow out of it, glowing slightly with orange energy. Most of them missed, but one hit home in Venom's shoulder. Nocturne's eyes widened. She hadn't meant to hit him, just get rid of the trio, but she shook it off. 'Call it a bonus,' she thought to herself.

Speedy had his own troubles. He had given up on his bow and arrows, finding that Daimen teleported around the area, fading in and out like a phantom. He settled now for landing as many hits as possible, ducking and blocking whenever he could. However, when he caught sight of the miniature crossbow Nocturne was sporting, and the glow surrounding the bolts, he froze. When had she absorbed his power? He was so preoccupied, he didn't notice Daimen fading in behind him until it was too late. With one arm wrapped around his throat, Daimen brought his fist down on his head, knocking him cold.

"Well, I'm sure we'll meet again. Someday," Nocturne said softly, smiling as she returned to Daimen's side.

"Yeah I'm sure we will. And as for Teleka... well I wouldn't wait up tonight," he finished as the pair faded out of sight.

"Wait a minute! What d'you bloody well mean? Tell us where she is!" screamed Blue Moon, struggling even harder against the foam. When she realized she was talking to thin air, she stopped and dropped down to the ground hopelessly. As soon as she ceased fighting against the substance that held her, it instantly began to evaporate. "... Now why didn't I think of that in the first place?" In minutes she was free and helping Venom to his feet. He had managed to pull the bolt from his shoulder but blood was now flowing freely from the wound.

"Well that went well," he hissed dryly walking towards Speedy. "He's out for the count."

"You don't say, mate? You two are bloody useless, you know that?"

"Whatever you say Blue. Whatever you say."

One hour later, at Triquetra HQ...

"Okay... so what do we know about these people? Other than the fact that, as Blue Moon continuously has reminded us, they have Teleka," Speedy asked as the three sat around HQ morosely.

"Nothing! Nocturne steals people's powers and must be sneaking into the Batcave with the number of gadgets she's got. And for all the powers Daimen's got I'm thinking he's at least half-demon, if not fully. Oh yeah, and they have Teleka!" Blue helpfully reminded them, maybe only slightly irritated. Her outburst sat heavily over the group for a minute.

"Does anyone else think we might need help on this?" Venom interjected.