Standard disclaimers apply.
CHAPTER EDITED NOV. 24, 2004: With the insight of Aria-Angel.
GUIDING STAR
Chapter Seventeen – Slade, Slate and Unanswered Questions
Robin looked up at the scream of a fast approaching engine. He winced as the sound got louder. Even the headphones that were clamped firmly over his ears were not proof against it.
Moments later, the Batcar came to a screeching halt in its parking space right in the middle of the Batcave. The engines died down gradually and the noise dissipated.
It was eight in the morning and after Robin had seen Starfire off to the labs, he went straight to the Batcave to work.
When Batman got out of his car, he paused momentarily to look at Robin.
Batman said something and Robin barely heard him. He whipped the headphones off. "What?"
"I said you're up early."
Robin cocked a grin. "And you've been partying all night. You should've brought me along with you. You'd have been home from kicking bad guy butt much earlier." It was their usual banter. Robin would say something about going with Batman and Batman would tell him that he worked alone now or that Robin's city wasn't Gotham anymore or something along those lines.
He didn't expect Bruce's response of, "I thought I'd let you get your groove on with Kori."
Robin reddened, scowling. "What the f—were you spying on us?"
Batman stared, the coverage of the mask revealing nothing. "I was teasing. I didn't mean anything by it. You, on the other hand, are serious. I hope you used protection, Dick."
Robin wanted to disintegrate right there. "It wasn't like that. Shees, why do I even waste my time making idle conversation with you?" He turned on his seat, motioning to replace his headphones.
"Need help with that?"
"Your Aural Spectrograph sucks." It actually didn't. It was perhaps as advanced as the one the titans had in the tower, but Robin wasn't feeling particularly amicable after getting embarrassed.
The grid lines spread across the page caged a splay of visualized sound wave patterns. The erratic lines and points on the monitor were colored in monochromatic shades representing pitch, tone, background noises and a bunch of other sound patterns. It meant nothing to the untrained eye, but Robin knew how to read it. So did Batman.
Batman ignored his remark. "Looking for a particular voice print?"
"Maybe. I'm also looking out for anomalies. Never know what you might find in those." Far more advanced than the regular aural spectrographs the police used, this version could plot subliminal sounds, voice masks and sound distortions; functions that couldn't be found in the more common spectrographs which were only used to identify voice prints. Robin was using it to analyze the voices on the tape he stole from Maxwell Victoria's apartment.
He could probably get several voice matches from the Bat Computer's network-powered criminal archives and Robin hoped the matches offered clues that might help shed some light on the entire mystery.
Batman nodded. "Could I hear your sample?"
"It's long. There are over a dozen recorded messages."
"You snagging tape recorders from answering machines again?"
"Learned it from you, didn't I?"
"Learned it well, apparently. Any distinct messages you could zero in on?"
"None. They're all basically the same. He gets calls from sharks telling him to come up with payments, and he also gets calls from the phone company… the power company… collection agencies… the occasional bookie…"
"And how old is this tape?"
"Judging by the messages, I'm guessing two months old. Phone probably stopped working soon after that. He paid off his debts a bit later. I don't think he bothered settling with the phone company, though. If these were the kind of calls I got on my phone, I wouldn't reconnect either."
Batman shrugged. "Maybe he got himself a cellular phone."
"Maybe." It was possible. Victoria certainly didn't waste time hooking himself up to a spectacularly expensive Alienware desktop.
Robin fiddled with some switches and handed Batman headphones of his own. Batman plugged in and soon they were listening to each and every message; analyzing them from the available visual and aural information.
They managed to get voice prints, most of which belonged to Bludhaven's not-so-model citizens.
Five hours later, after having sifted through half a dozen anomalies that led to nothing, Robin found another discrepancy. He was just about to point it out when Batman called his attention to it. "See that irregularity?"
Robin nodded but didn't want to get his hopes up yet again. "Could be anything, though." He looked at the half-eaten deli sandwich on a plate nearby. Alfred had brought them lunch, but Robin found he was in no mood to eat.
"We'll see. Replay the audio."
Robin did. A woman's voice, soothing and silky, but with a decidedly high pitch, broke through their earpieces.
"Penny here. Don't forget MealtidePark Central. Eight thirty
Whether it was a date or a bookie, it was hard to say. Mealtide Park Central was a hot spot for shady dealings, which was why anybody could do anything illegal there and nobody would care. It wasn't milling with tourists, but it had its share of regulars.
Overall, the voice sounded normal, but there was a deviation somewhere along the stream. It wasn't entirely visible and indeed, it could be anything, but it was an anomaly and they had to check it.
Robin broke down the deviant stream and tried to isolate it. It was somewhat like cropping in digital image editors, but more sensitive to errors. It took a lot of practice to isolate a stream and it was a tedious process. It was the reason the entire thing was taking so long.
Finally, the stream was isolated. Setting it aside, Robin made the usual audio adjustments to make the words intelligible. It was a bit more difficult when the audio was as short as this one because he had to keep on replaying so he could hear whether his adjustments were correct. The trial and error process required a lot of patience. Batman and Robin had the patience for such things.
Little by little, the words became clearer. Halfway through, Robin took a pregnant pause.
Batman arched a questioning eyebrow.
Robin ignored him and started making vast adjustments to the modulators, after which Robin played the message a final time.
"Penny here. Don't forget MealtidePark Central. Eight thirty
It was the voice of Slade.
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"Richard?"
Robin snapped out of his musings at the sound of Starfire's voice. She had just gotten back from the labs and he had immediately brought her to the Batcave to listen to the recording.
He had just finished playing the message and for the nth time that day, he got lost in a bevy of thoughts. Since he discovered the mask on the recording, he found himself trying to come up with an objective; a plan; something. Just so he wouldn't feel that he was sitting around while Slade was plotting the demise of the world.
Robin had done all he can while Starfire was at the labs. The first thing he did after he isolated Slade's voice was contact the tower through the Bat Computer. It was four thirty in the morning at Jump City when he called and Cyborg had not been accommodating. Raven was worse. Only Beast Boy was civil but his mood quickly turned sour when Raven made unsavory comments about the teddy bears on his boxer shorts.
When Robin played the voice message, much of their drowsiness disappeared, but their moods turned from bad to worse. Cyborg was the first to recover.
"What'll you have us do, chief?"
"Keep following the leads you already have but I want you to look for leads regarding Slade. Get anything you can on him. I don't care if it's a rumor of him robbing Seven Elevens—follow it! I'm going to see if I could get a meeting with Garrison Slate."
Beast Boy scratched behind his ears. "The billionaire?"
Robin didn't even respond to it. It was a silly question, especially since Robin lived almost half his life with another billionaire. "Starfire and I will be flying back there tomorrow and we should get there around eight in the morning. Cy, be there when we touch down."
Cyborg nodded.
Raven, in her black, Mortisha-cut nightgown, cast her shadow on the monitor. "I have an old list of Slade's contacts when he was still in Army Ops. Should I go back on those—?"
"Yes. Go back. Way back if you have to. We have to find him before he does what he's got planned."
"Robin," said Raven pointedly. "You do realize that if we find him, it's probably because he wants to be found."
Robin understood what Raven was saying. If they found Slade, it was because he was ready for them. They had foiled Slade twice, but the last time, the one with Terra; Slade had almost succeeded. If it hadn't been for Terra's betrayal of him, Slade might have very well won. They couldn't face Slade without being prepared for the worse, or else they would put themselves and the rest of the city in peril. They may have won twice, but their triumph was only as good as Slade's next attempt. "We're just going to have to stay alert. Be ready for him. I'm working on a plan so that this time, he doesn't catch us by surprise."
Beast Boy frowned, teddy bear boxer shorts and all. "First there's Cinderblock and then there was Plasmus. Wanna bet that Overload will turn up soon? I mean, hello! He's obviously leading us! He probably knows what we're doing right now!"
Cyborg placed a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and shook his head. "Not helping, little man."
Robin stifled a sigh. Beast Boy had a point though, and Robin had thought about that, but there was little any of them could do about it. They just had to do their best to stay vigilant. "Just keep the tower secure, Cy. Make sure there aren't any taps; make sure our airwaves are tight. I don't want anyone accidentally stumbling in on our frequencies. Put virus guards if you have to. This is the last time I'm going to communicate with you from here, so if you have any questions for me, ask them now."
There was silence.
Robin nodded. "I'll see Cyborg at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow, Wayne Airfield. Out."
Closing communications, Robin immediately fell to finding out where Garrison Slate was. He was harder to track down than the average civilian and Robin figured the guy had the money to put up tight blocks on information regarding his whereabouts, but having lived with a billionaire-superhero who was even more secretive than Garrison Slate, Robin knew all about security measures. Batman, after all, had the best system in the world.
Four hours later, Robin found out that Garrison Slate was in Antarctica, quite possibly in the middle of nowhere. Some of his scientists were on expedition there and he had decided to make an on-site visit. This news did not please Robin in the least. He couldn't even get a radio signal. There was virtually no way to contact Garrison Slate while he was somewhere at the snowy top of the world.
That had been almost three hours ago.
Now Starfire was with him in the Bat Cave and he could barely focus his attention on her.
"Richard, I asked how you derived this recording from the tape."
Robin looked blankly at her before he shook himself out of his stupor and blew a breath through his lips. He apologized and concentrated on processing her question. "It was one of the messages in that tape we got from Victoria's apartment. He masked his voice, making himself sound like a woman, probably with a digital device. This is the voice on the recording." He clicked a window and the girlishly seductive voice sounded through the speakers. "The message was phrased very vaguely, so that anyone who might hear it wouldn't think it out of the ordinary, but Victoria would know. Penny's probably an alias he was instructed to recognize and I doubt if there were any meet-up plans made before this call. Bad guys don't make reservations and confirmations, you know. They just call, tell you where to meet them and that's about it."
"Penny," she said softly. "What a strange name; like a feminine for the more masculine Penn."
"Actually, it's an ordinary name, even if it's not as common as John or Jessica, which is probably why it was used. It doesn't call attention yet it's unlikely that there would be another random lady calling him with the same name."
Starfire nodded. "I would like to hear Slade's voice again, please."
Robin replayed it for her.
She listened intently, brows knotted. "How did you find out the lady's voice was a mask?"
He was a bit confused by her question. Starfire had worked the Aural Spectrograph in the tower and she knew how this was done, but he answered her anyway. "Trial and error. Bruce and I scanned for anomalies from the visuals of the Aural Spectrograph. Took us a few hours, but when I isolated this stream and aligned its sound patterns, I got this. It works the same as the Aural Spectrograph at the tower."
"Oh." It sounded as if she was disappointed that there was no loophole in his procedure. He couldn't blame her. He wished there was some way he could be wrong, but right now, all signals led to Slade. "What do we do now?"
Robin sighed. "We wait a few hours. Maybe later we could communicate with Garrison Slate. Guy like him never stays in one place for long. I know the type. He's bound to go somewhere we could contact him; just a matter of time." He leaned over the panel and opened a window, accessing Maxwell Victoria's online banking account. There was still no recorded activity. He wasn't even purchasing with a debit-card. Wherever he was, he didn't need any cash. All day, he had made constant online trips to check on Victoria's banking activities. If he so much as withdrew cash, the bank would record when, where and what time. Using that information, Robin could zero in on him, but there was nothing. There wasn't a trace of Victoria anywhere. It was as if he had disappeared off the face of the Earth.
Itching for something to do, Robin contacted Johan.
"Er… Bat Kid? That you?" came Johan's uncertain voice through the speaker.
"Who else? Got anything on Victoria?"
"None. Hey, I'd call you if there was something. You told me I should, remember?"
"Yeah. Just checking to see if you remember." Frustrated, Robin cut him off and leaned back on his chair. "This waiting is driving me nuts."
Starfire frowned. "How long have you been here?"
"Since eight this morning."
She shook her head in disapproval. "Dick Grayson, you have been working for almost eleven hours straight. You cannot do this to yourself."
He ruffled his hair, annoyed that he couldn't do anything more at the moment. "I have to work, Kori. I can't… I can't just sit around and do nothing because it's like every second I waste; Slade is another second closer to completing whatever plan he has this time. At least—at least I want to know what he's planning. Maybe I could stop it—"
"You? Do you not mean we?" She scowled. "Richard…" she began in a warning tone. "You are doing it again!"
He grit his teeth. "I'm sorry. I just forget. I'm getting so caught up in this—"
"There is nothing you could do in the next two hours. You must take the time to—what you call—decompress. If it makes you feel better, I will try to find a way to contact this Garrison Slate for you while you go upstairs and perhaps eat some Oreos…"
Robin expelled a breath then he looked at her, drawing on her relaxing vibes. "You have to come with me. If I walk around the house alone, it'll just get me thinking about it again and I want to—I just want to think about something else for a couple of hours." He closed his eyes and pressed the heels of his hands lightly against it.
She smiled, reaching for him. He caught her hands in his. "We have not tried the pool."
It certainly worked well enough to distract him. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
She pouted. "Why would it not be a good idea?"
His cheeks burned. "Were you not there last night when we were making out on your bed?"
A flush spread across her cheeks. "I rather liked it. I thought you—was it bad for you, then?"
He laughed sardonically, letting his head drop between his shoulders in frustration. "Are you shitting me?"
"I-I am not familiar with that—"
He laughed even more, grazing her cheek with his thumb. "There was absolutely nothing bad about it—well, unless you use bad in terms of being a major turn on…" His voice trailed at her evident confusion. "But if you want me to be less cryptic about it—I liked it a lot; a bit too much maybe. You had to have noticed that, Kori." He punctuated it with a half-wistful-half-miserable sigh; his blush deepened.
She smiled shyly. "I—um—got that impression."
"I'm being an absolute moron, but… just, not right now. We shouldn't."
Especially not right now. Robin would regret losing himself to Kori in his state; with Slade perversely at the back of his mind and possibly returning to memory full-force during the afterglow…
That would be so not right, he thought dourly. If he and Starfire ever got to that, he wanted it to be special; not because he wanted to forget Slade.
Comfort sex could come much later in the relationship.
He felt horribly guilty for thinking so casually of it, yet it made him feel somewhat tingly.
Robin suggested that they pester Alfred in the kitchen. She agreed. It turned out to be a better idea than they hoped because Babs showed up bearing gifts.
"Alfred said you two will probably be leaving in the morning," she explained, handing them each a gift-wrapped box. "I couldn't let you go without saying goodbye, right?"
"Touched," said Robin, tearing the wrapper off the gift.
Starfire, grinning, did likewise.
Robin opened the box and found a mustard colored graphic tee-shirt. Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes wore huge glasses that magnified his eyes as he stood at the side of large print letters. The letters spelled GEEK. Robin arched an eyebrow.
Starfire had a graphic tee-shirt as well, hers in old rose. She examined it by touch and figuring out what it was, she held it up. "Ooh, what does my shirt of T look like?" Hers had Susie Derkins from the same cartoon, leaning against letters of her own. The letters spelled: I (heart) GEEK.
Babs laughed gregariously at her own joke. Alfred could not resist a small smile.
"Charming," he said.
"Ha, ha, freckin' ha," said Robin, stifling a grin. He folded the tee-shirt and rolled it into his grip.
Starfire looked worried. "You do not like the shirt of T, Richard?"
Babs allayed her fears. "Don't be silly, Kori, he loves it. He's just being a smart-ass, like always, that's all."
Robin chuckled. "Thanks Babs. Appreciate the thought, even if you do think I'm a geek."
"Always was, always will be. It goes without saying that you have to wear the tee-shirts together, or else it ruins the joke."
Robin rolled his eyes.
Starfire, though still unaware of what her tee-shirt said, thanked Babs graciously. She folded the shirt as perfectly as she could and set it daintily aside.
Babs stayed for dinner and Bruce stuck around for dessert.
Robin was vaguely aware that more than two hours had gone by since he and Starfire left the Bat Cave and he found that the break was good for him.
When it came time for Babs to leave, Starfire gave Babs a warm hug and goodbye, after which she suggested that Robin walk her to her car.
Robin was only mildly surprised, but he was glad that even Starfire realized Babs deserved a proper farewell.
Babs was grinning broadly as they made their way to the garage. "So have you taken care of your business with Kori?"
He chuckled, amused. "Maybe. What do you care?"
She shrugged. "Oh, just call me a hopeless romantic. You look adorable together."
He smiled. They walked a while in companionable silence before he spoke again. "Hey, you know… thanks for being a pal. Kori really likes you and… you made me feel at home in this ridiculously big house. I think even then—when you kissed me and all, you were being a pal. I'll always remember that."
Babs laughed. "Well, you could look at it that way. I was being sort of a pal when I kissed you, but I also thought you were really cute, Boy Wonder." She winked.
He shrugged bashfully, grinning.
They reached the garage a bit later and Robin walked her to her car. She took her keys and unlocked the doors to her green VW Beetle. She opened the door to the driver's side.
Babs smiled and gave him a warm hug. "I am going to miss you—again. And I'll miss Kori, too. She's a sweetheart."
"Yeah, she is," he said, returning her hug.
She pulled away and held him by the shoulders. "You take care of her."
He scoffed. "You know I will."
"And she better take care of you. If she doesn't… you know where to call me!" She giggled, sliding into the driver's seat and slamming the door.
He backed away from the car as she slid her seatbelt on. She started the car and Robin pressed the controls to the garage doors. The panels slid open and she waved to him as she drove off.
Robin laughed softly, shaking his head as he closed up. It would be a long time before he saw Barbara Gordon again.
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The following morning, Robin and Starfire flew back to Jump City on Bruce's luxury plane. They had barely gotten any sleep the previous night trying to make contact with Garrison Slate.
When Batman found them half-asleep on the control panel of the Bat Computer, he told them, in a somewhat casual fashion, that he had had Garrison Slate on speed-dial since Wayne Enterprises proposed a corporate merging with them a few years back.
"But even Bruce Wayne couldn't just call the famous Garrison," he said. "I could leave word with his personal assistant; telling him that Robin the Boy Wonder urgently seeks his conference. I'll leave your contact information and Garrison Slate will get in touch with you when he's able. Good enough?"
Groaning groggily with the panel keys imprinted on his face, Robin nodded. It would have to do. "Tell him it's about Project Auron. Maybe he'll 'get in touch' with me faster that way."
On the plane back to San Diego, California, Robin and Starfire collapsed against their respective seats and slept the entire flight. Alfred, who was with them, pulled a blanket over Starfire and Robin's curled figures.
He noted with amusement that they had their fingers intertwined as they slept facing each other on their seats. He was glad that at least one of his pseudo-sons knew what was good for him.
Alfred woke them gently when the plane was preparing for landing.
Robin blinked back his grogginess, the mask tight around his eyes. Starfire rose beside him, just as sleepily. They prepared for their reception at landing before they finally buckled down on their seats.
As the plane descended, Robin looked over at Starfire. "We'll be with the others again, soon."
She nodded. "It will be nice to be with them again, but we… us…"
"Yeah, I know. It'll be fine."
She smiled, kissing his cheek daintily before settling back on her seat and threading her fingers through his.
The plane made a smooth landing. Before they stepped out of the plane, Starfire gave Alfred a warm hug. She kissed him on the cheek and thanked him profusely, telling him that he would be sorely missed.
Endeared, Alfred nodded. "Until next time, Madame Koriand'r."
Alfred attempted to extend a gentlemanly handshake to Robin who arched an eyebrow and said, "What are you, nuts?" He gave the old man a hug and Alfred returned it as best he could by giving Robin gentle pats to his back.
"Just tell Bruce I'll see him around, okay?" Robin wasn't able to give his mentor a proper goodbye, but that suited him and Bruce quite well. They didn't like schmaltzy partings, particularly with each other.
Starfire, Robin found out, had been much more thoughtful in her goodbyes to Bruce. She gave him a decorative Chinese Magic Box. She said it was difficult to open, yet when one figured it out, the simplicity of it could open one's mind to possibilities. In the meantime, it could serve as a marbleized paperweight that looked pretty damn good on a billionaire's office desk.
In a lot of ways, the nature of the box said many things about Bruce Wayne. Robin just knew Bruce would trip on it.
Starfire had given the Chinese Magic box with an elegant tie, because—she said—the Magic box was too cheap by itself.
As they made their way down the steps of the plane, Robin saw the T-Chopper waiting on its landing pad. Cyborg waved to them from the cockpit and Robin grinned.
Their things were brought to the chopper and when Robin was sure nothing had been left behind, he helped Starfire into the helicopter and stepped in. He gave Starfire her headphones and then he fit one on himself.
Cyborg grinned. "M' man, Robin! Glad to have you back!" He extended a fist.
Robin pounded on it and Cyborg returned the gesture, tapping knuckles to finish the greeting. "You been waiting long?"
"Nah! Everyone was on schedule. How's it going, Star? D'you like Gotham?"
She grinned. "Oh, I do! The people were wonderful and I do believe I have never had such well put together meals, but I could hardly wait to get back to the tower and eat pizza."
"Well, sit tight, ya'll. I'll get you guys back to the tower in a hurry. Pizza's waiting!"
They lifted off and Robin saw Alfred waving. He waved back, thinking for the first time since he made a conscious decision to move out of Gotham that he was actually going to miss it.
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Beast Boy's reception of their return was about as warm and BB-esque as they expected of him. He transformed into a monkey, swung around excitedly then presented them with home-made welcome-back tofu cookies, and while the cookies tasted mostly like sugared paper, Robin had to appreciate the gesture. He hadn't been as thoughtful.
Raven was about as warm as a popsicle in winter. She looked up from the book she was reading on the couch, stared at them a moment and said, "Hey. Pizza's on the counter," before going back to Marilyn Manson's book of poetry.
Starfire immediately fell to her knees to dig through her suitcase which was apparently filled with coming home presents. First she gave Cyborg his autographed Batman and then she brought out something Robin was surprised she was able to get: A signed Batarang. Cyborg was bursting with robotic joy. For Beast Boy, she had a tee-shirt with a cow staring out bug eyed and open-mouth, apparently shocked. Beside the cow were the words "Hamburgers are made of WHAT?!?" He loved it, of course. It was exactly the kind of philosophy he lived by.
Intrigued by what Starfire could have possibly gotten for Raven, he wasn't surprised when Starfire pulled out a book. What surprised him was Raven's reaction.
Raven gave the book one glance and she dropped Marilyn Manson's magnum opus. She stared at the book in Starfire's hands. "Fairy Goth-ma'am: Chronicles of Psychology on the Criminal Minds of Gotham… how did you get this? It's not publicly distributed. Dr. Meridian only gives these out to a select few…"
"Dr. Meridian likes me."
Raven's impassive face showed only the barest hint of a surprise. "You met her?"
Starfire grinned. "I was with her almost every day in Gotham."
Raven struggled to absorb this before saying thanks and hunching over the new, apparently rare, book; Marilyn Manson forgotten.
When everyone had settled down, Robin took the pizza box from the counter and plopped it on the dining table, like bait. "Alright, business brunch, people."
The titans groaned but sat around the table anyway, seeking solace from the food.
Starfire slid into the booth beside him, sitting primly while she subtly linked her ankle around his under cover of the table. He let her, stifling a smile.
"Report," he simply said.
Cyborg wolfed down a pizza slice in two bites and began. "I checked up as much as I could on S.T.A.R. labs and there's nothing in their archives to indicate that it had anything to do with the work our guys did in Project Auron. If they even had any records of it, they're all gone. Our only hope of ever finding anything from S.T.A.R. regarding Project Auron is Garrison Slate himself."
Robin nodded. "I'm working on that. Raven?"
"Beast Boy and I tried to cover as much of the list as we could. Most of his army connections are dead and General Sampson refused to talk about him; though he did admit that he hasn't heard from Slade in the last ten years."
"The guy talked like he had a bazooka up his butt," said Beast Boy. He made a face marked by a scowl and began to speak in a British Army voice, complete with an accent. "I was having tea and scones one hundred meters from a veritable war zone while you were eating your mother's home-baked crumpets, boy!"
Starfire giggled but Raven ignored him. "We were able to track down one connection: William Randolph Wintergreen. He's Slade's best friend."
Robin took a moment to process this. It was uncanny. His idea of a best friend ran along the lines of a sweetheart like Starfire, or even a friendly, dependable guy like Cyborg; not Slade.
Starfire found the words first. "Slade has a best friend?"
Beast Boy chortled. "Yeah. Kinda makes you wonder if Slade remembers birthdays."
Robin leaned back, organizing his thoughts. "Have you done a background check on this guy?"
Raven nodded. "Yes. Comes from an old English family and grew up in Oxford but he moved here when he and Slade left the British Army. He's an excellent information specialist and before he pursued a career in the British Army, he received several commendations for his work in MI-5, but it was in the British Army he found out that he didn't like rules very much. He usually got in trouble being reckless but Slade always came around to bail him out. In one of the missions, he fucked-up real bad and was imprisoned in Hanoi where he underwent brutal torture. It was Slade who rescued him. They've been classified in British Government records as dead and they've been the best of friends ever since. He was Slade's Best Man at his wedding—"
"Whoa," said Robin. "Slade's married?"
"Was. They're divorced now. His wife tried to kill him. She missed—a bit. She blew off his eye. I guess they couldn't work through their issues."
"Apparently."
Beast Boy shook his head. "Couples these days… not even for the children."
Robin eyed Beast Boy. "You're joking, right? They don't actually have kids, do they? You're just saying that to be funny. In fact, it's not very funny."
Raven shot Beast Boy an annoyed look. "They have two sons. They were the main reason the marriage didn't work. Adeline Wilson didn't like the idea that her sons would be raised by a mercenary and Slade didn't like the idea that she was going to take them away. Did I mention that Slade used to be a mercenary named Deathstroke? I think he told his wife that he was selling insurance."
"No. You didn't tell me." Robin couldn't fathom the idea that Slade could be fatherly in any way. He wondered if Slade ever went to PTA meetings. "So you're saying Slade wasn't always the psychopathic monster that we all… hate?"
"Who knows?"
"Wintergreen might know," said Robin. "Done any recon on this guy?"
"Only a little bit," replied Beast Boy. "He's been pretty clean since he moved here to the US. Like a model citizen. He pays his taxes; pays his bills; doesn't have any traffic violations; goes to the grocery store and pastry shop every Saturday morning; and he's Anglican; worships every Sunday with his fellow Brits in reverence to the holy Church of England and—" he paused, reverting to his English accent "—Her Majesty, the Queen." He grinned in spite of the generally impassive faces surrounding him. Starfire was kind enough to give him a little giggle. "I also turned rat and scurried around his house. Guy loves to read, sits around in his garden drinking tea and listens to a lot of old music."
Robin lifted and eyebrow. "Old music? Like Elvis Presley or something?"
"You know; the kind with a lot of violins and pianos and stuff."
"Don't you mean classical?"
"Dude, classical is Run DMC. No contest."
Cyborg laughed and exchanged high-fives with Beast Boy.
Robin rolled his eyes and tried to get their discussion back on track. "So this guy Wintergreen's mellowed. Is that what you're saying?"
Beast Boy shrugged. "Man, if I were tortured in Hanoi as a prisoner of war, I'd pretty much say eee-nough when it comes to anything that has to do with the army and violence."
Starfire fidgeted. "Actually, many of the most traumatized soldiers tend to exhibit violent characteristics post war."
"Well, excuse me Miss Dr. Meridian Likes Me!" said Beast Boy, grinning. Starfire knew a teasing tone when she heard it and she smiled back shyly.
"Only way to find out is to talk to him," Robin said. "If we need more information, maybe he'd know where to find Slade's wife and kids… cripes, that still sounds wrong."
Raven arched an eyebrow. "That he had a wife and kids?"
"That someone loved him enough to marry him and bear his children."
A general shudder went around the table.
"When can we see Wintergreen?" Robin asked.
Beast Boy made the reply. "Tomorrow morning, while he's gardening. He has a dog show to go to the entire day today."
Robin ruffled his hair; irate. "Right. Dog show." As much as he wanted to catch Wintergreen unaware, he didn't want to make a scene in as public an event as a dog show, especially if Wintergreen wasn't doing anything wrong. He supposed dropping into a guy's garden while he was tending it would be surprise enough. He just wished they didn't have to wait so long. He sighed, resigned. "I'm going to get into uniform. I miss the old suit."
Their conference broke, the pizza gone. He hadn't even bothered to partake of it.
He felt a hand on his shoulder as he stood and it was Starfire's.
"I will get in uniform as well. It has been a while," she said softly.
Robin flashed a half-grin. He supposed everyone would be glad to see Starfire back in her old purples. He was also looking forward to having some time alone with her, however brief, when they went down to chambers together, but Cyborg and Beast Boy went along with them to the elevators. Cyborg wanted to set up the signed Batman and batarang so that everyone who walked into his room could see it. Beast Boy was going to help him.
Robin tried not to look disappointed. He was always glad to have them around, but because they were there, he couldn't even hold Starfire's hand.
Cyborg's room came first in the hallway and talking excitedly, they barely paid attention to Robin and Starfire as they disappeared into Cyborg's door.
Robin brought Starfire to her room and after looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was going to pop out and catch him in the act, he leaned over and kissed her.
When they parted, she smiled. "What was that for?"
"We're not going to be alone as much as we want to, anymore. Not around here. Call it seizing the moment."
She seemed to like the thought and she did some seizing of her own. Robin was just about to pull her close when the sound of voices bounced through the halls.
They pulled apart looking about as guilty as thieves. Beast Boy popped his head out of Cyborg's door just when they got out of their compromising position.
"Hey, you guys got any thumbtacks you could spare?"
"None," they muttered in unison.
Beast Boy stared at them for a heartbeat then grinned. "Sorry if I interrupted anything."
Robin stifled a roll of his eyes as he turned to head for his room. "I'll see you later, Starfire."
She nodded, before disappearing behind her door.
Beast Boy was still smirking when Robin shot him a glare. "Don't you have some batarangs to hang?"
Beast Boy cackled, retreating back into Cyborg's room.
88888888888888
Robin leaned back on the couch, eyes glued to the wide screen in front of him in concentration, though he wasn't exactly paying attention to the movie. He had his elbow draped over the back-rest as he secretly made idle caresses on Starfire's shoulder with his fingers, barely noticeable in the darkness of the room. Starfire leaned into it subtly as she listened to Beast Boy's soft commentary beside her.
Cyborg, who was seated on the other side of Beast Boy, reacted to the fight scene as he munched on a can of Pringles. Raven, situated at the other end of the couch, looked like she was bored out of her mind (even if she probably wasn't).
Robin was too preoccupied to enjoy Braveheart and only Starfire's presence made it possible for him to sit still.
"Dude," came a whisper.
It took another moment for Robin to realize that Beast Boy was addressing him. He arched a questioning eyebrow in the green titan's direction.
"Could you—like, stop tapping your foot? It's distracting me."
Robin looked at his metal sole boot and saw that it was hitting the leg of the coffee table. He hadn't even noticed he was doing that. "Sorry."
"It's fine." Beast Boy sighed tolerantly before going back to describing scenes to Starfire.
Robin wanted to hit Beast Boy over the head, just to release some of his restlessness. He suddenly felt Starfire's hand graze tenderly above his knee, as if to soothe him. And then her touch was gone. He wished they didn't have to be so discreet but that was the thing about having responsibilities; there were expectations about what should and shouldn't be done.
He glanced at her furtively and saw the veil of her hair parting to show some of her nape. What he wouldn't give to plant a kiss on the inviting curve of her neck right now.
A persistent beeping sound broke through the surround sound and Robin was immediately alerted.
Without saying anything, he shut the movie off and went to the panel, quickly punching in a set of codes. Nobody made complaints; they all knew what that beeping sound meant. Someone was trying to contact them via the tower's computer.
A window opened on screen and a man's head and shoulders, cloaked in shadow, appeared. Robin blinked in surprise.
"Ah! Good evening Titans," the vision said in a pleasant, unassuming tone.
There was a profound silence in the room. Who was this person?
Robin quickly gathered his wits. "Uh… good evening. Who am I speaking to?"
The person on-screen chuckled. "Of course. Where are my manners? My name is Garrison Slate."
Robin was only astonished for a moment before it was replaced by suspicion. He looked at Raven from the corner of his eye and the empath, catching his questioning gaze, nodded. That meant that this shadow who had introduced himself as the elusive billionaire was indeed telling the truth. For the moment, that was good enough for Robin. "Mr. Slate, I'm glad you decided to contact us."
"Well, why wouldn't I? When Bruce Wayne calls to tell me that Robin the Boy Wonder requests conference with me, I would be a fool not to respond. I am quite the Titans fan, you know, football team notwithstanding. You must excuse me for being so… anonymous. I prefer that people do not recognize me by my looks."
"I understand," said Robin, trying his best to sound convincing.
The shadow nodded before it shifted slightly. "Mr. Victor Stone! How is your cybernetic equipment coming along?"
Swallowing a mouth full of chips, Cyborg hastened to reply. "Doing just fine, sir."
"Good! And Miss Koriand'r, I've heard about the efforts of Wayne Enterprises to restore your eyesight. I must say that your chances are top-notch with such an excellent team of scientists working on it."
Starfire hadn't been prepared to be addressed, but she replied. "I-I have the greatest faith in them."
They saw the shadow turn in Robin's direction. "And how may I help you, Boy Wonder?"
"We just have a few questions. We were wondering if the name Project Auron rings a bell for you."
"Ah, yes. Bruce said something about that. Of course it rings a bell!"
Robin's heart skipped a beat at the news. "Could you tell us more about it?"
"Well, it was quite a while back then. Ten… maybe eleven years ago. I didn't get very involved with it. I felt something was not right. I backed out before I got in too deep."
"What was it that they wanted you to do?"
"Sophisticated machinery configured to respond to certain kinds of stones; otherworldly gems of sorts. I forgot what they called it but I got the impression that the result of its combination led to potentially destructive mechanisms."
"Did you get to speak to the ones heading this project?"
Garrison Slate paused to think. "Well, probably not. Their emissaries, I'd think. Whoever their boss was, he didn't have time to come here to Earth."
That was greatly unexpected. He exchanged astonished glances with the titans before he continued. "They were aliens?"
"They didn't say, but I suspected as much. They wore cloaking devices, so that we couldn't see their true forms, but I knew they were in disguise. They called themselves Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones. I don't even think those were their real names. And then of course, they dealt in cold hard cash. I suppose aliens couldn't possibly have personal checks." He chuckled at this. "At the time, aliens weren't that commonplace, and I was the only one in my group allowed to meet up with them, so I couldn't exactly start telling everyone that we were dealing with otherworldly clients. They were hiding something. Whenever I asked them what the machines were for, they kept telling me that it was not my concern. I refused to work like that. I didn't want to get tricked into making weapons and then find out in the end that they would use it to blow up our planet. That would have made me very upset."
Robin thought maybe it would upset everyone, but he merely nodded, thinking about how that information could apply to their three scientists. It was possible that Welles, Victoria and Greenwald backed out for the same reasons Garrison Slate did. "Understood. Ever heard of the names Welles, Victoria and Greenwald?"
"Oh yes," replied Slate in a grave tone. "They were the other team of scientists. They were also one of the reasons I decided not to get involved with the aliens. I heard they were seriously harassed for backing out of the project."
"They were."
Slate shook his head, making tutting sounds. "I promised myself I wouldn't have anything to do with that project, so I couldn't take them to work for me. Poor guys. I heard they all met a most unfortunate end."
Robin made a noncommittal gesture with his hand. He didn't have to tell Slate who lived and who died. "Did you have any dealings with them, at all?"
"None. They were just names. I don't even know what they were working on."
"Did you hear from the Project Auron guys again after you turned them down?"
"Well, for a while they stuck around to try to convince me, but suddenly they had to leave in a hurry and then they were gone. Never heard from them again. Maybe something happened to them, or maybe they found another race of aliens who was more willing to help them. I got the impression that they had other contacts in other planets. Besides, I was not so arrogant as to think that humans were the only ones intelligent enough to provide them with the technology they needed." His voice spelled amusement.
Robin tried as hard as he could to make something of the tones in Garrison Slate's voice. It was difficult to make assessments of the man's character if all he could see was a shadow, but truth be told, there was no reason whatsoever to suspect that Slate was a liar. His public image was clean and while his super corporation had had their share of manic scientists, S.T.A.R. always made public statements about how they didn't condone questionable practices and abuses to science. His statements about Project Auron only confirmed that image.
The only other question he needed to ask felt pointless, but he had to ask it anyway. "Do you even have the slightest idea of what species they were, Mr. Slate?"
Garrison Slate laughed softly. "Honestly, none. Even if I saw their ship, which I didn't, I wouldn't know where it was from. It is not like I could look up space-ship models for quick reference. They could've originated from Pluto… heck, they could have been Tamaranian for all I knew."
Starfire flushed at the reference.
Robin tried to think of other leads but he knew he had exhausted them with regard to Garrison Slate. The man's answers were tight and Robin couldn't possibly badger the man into telling them more. He had no choice but to end the interview. "That's about it, Mr. Slate. Thank you for your time. I know you're very busy."
Garrison Slate's shadow made a gesture and then a slight bow. "Anything I could do to help. I shall always be willing to answer questions for the Titans of Jump City."
"We'll remember that."
"Signing out."
Robin nodded and the window disappeared. He checked the connection and saw that it was terminated. He looked at his titans, waiting for their reactions.
Cyborg popped the cap back on the Pringles can. "Does this mean S.T.A.R. Labs is a dud?"
"If we take Slate's word for it, yes." Robin's brows knotted into a frown. "Raven, did you sense anything from him?"
Raven frown. "He wasn't lying… at all."
Robin wished for once that Raven had said otherwise. "Nothing's adding up. We're missing something. Maybe I asked him the wrong questions."
Again, the room was silent and Robin had to stifle a sigh. Apparently, he wasn't the only one coming up blank.
He didn't feel much like watching Braveheart anymore. "I'm turning in, guys. I want everyone ready to head out early tomorrow and I'm taking no excuses. Don't be late. I'll see you all in the morning."
Robin made to leave, but as he got behind Starfire on his way to the elevator, he paused. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "G'night, Starfire."
She turned slightly, a small smile on her lips. "Good night, Robin."
If the Titans had anything to say about it, he didn't stand around to hear it. He hastened to leave, stepping into the elevator for chambers.
To be continued….
Closing notes: First—new characters. There's Garrison Slate and William Randolph Wintergreen. Both of them are comic book characters and I based their backgrounds from their role in the comics. However, it does bear mentioning that Wintergreen might have appeared in one of the episodes. Which one, you ask? Wind Beneath Her Wings pointed out that the episode would have to be Final Exam. Slade had a butler pouring him coffee, or maybe tea, since that's the British way.
The Aural Spectrograph mentioned in this chapter is a fictional version of the real thing. Like I mentioned, AS's could only be used to identify voice prints; meaning it matches recently recorded voice patterns with what law enforcers have on archive so they could identify a criminal, like with fingerprints. I heard that the CIA uses such a system to identify terrorists over communication devices, like phones and radios. They also use such information for drug cartel bosses and such. So don't go around telling everyone that Aural Spectrographs could identify voice masking and such things. I just made that up. And unlike fingerprints, voice prints are inadmissible in court, so it couldn't be used as evidence against the accused in a trial; at least, that's the way it is in most states.