It had been a late and eventful night, and the Teen Titans woke up later than usual the next morning. All except Starfire and Robin, who had an early breakfast and started looking through newspapers on-line. It was mid-afternoon by the time they got done, and all they had to show for their efforts were computer-screen-induced headaches.

Robin leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "Six months of papers from all over the country, and nothing." He looked at Starfire. "You still have no idea where you know him from?"

"No." Starfire was also disappointed. "Robin, are we finished with the research of the papers of news?"

"I suppose so. Not much point in going any further."

Starfire stood up. "Then perhaps I can find the answers in greater proximity to the point of origin."

Robin looked blank "Huh?"

"Oh, is that not right? Um, 'closer to the home'" With that, Starfire flew out of the room and downstairs to the common room.

She found Cyborg and Beastboy playing a new video game. She looked around and then tried the roof, where she found Raven, meditating.

Starfire hesitated, knowing how much Raven hated to be bothered during this activity. But Raven had already sensed her presence. "Starfire, I told the boys that I couldn't play video games, and I'm telling you I can't go to the mall." She turned around to look at Star. "Should I tell Robin I can't do research, or is he actually going to leave me alone?"

"I believe he will leave you alone, although I can tell him if you wish. But going to the mall of shopping is not why I was looking for you. I need your help. I am curious about the identity of the man we saw last night."

Raven stopped her meditation and stood up, facing Star. She felt a little ashamed for pre-judging Star's intentions. "Well, I'll help all I can, but I wasn't paying attention to him. I didn't get any sort of reading."

"I know, but I believe I know him from somewhere. I was hoping that meditation might help me remember."

"Hmm. All right." Raven returned to sitting cross-legged, and Starfire joined her. "Just like we practiced. Find your center. Clear your mind. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Starfire joined her friend in the chant.

Some minutes later, Raven asked Star, "Are you centered? Is your mind clear?"

Starfire had her eyes closed. "Yes."

"OK, Starfire, we're going to try a little regression. Think back to the incident, to just before you saw the stranger for the first time. Tell me what happened, every detail."

"I was on the floor, after the explosion. I looked up, and I could see the criminal standing above me, pointing his gun at me. He had a victorious look on his face. I tried to move out of the way, but I could not move fast enough. I could see his finger tightening around the trigger. The next thing I saw was a burst of energy hitting him in the chest, then another. He fell."

"Then you turned around to see who fired. And you saw . . .?"

"I saw the strange man in a red uniform, floating near the ceiling, his arm outstretched...." Starfire trailed off, then opened her eyes suddenly. "Raven, he is Tamaranian!"

"Tamaranian? How do you know?"

"The way he floated, the way he flew! He is Tamaranian, I know it! I must go and tell Robin!" She stood up and flew downstairs.

Raven stood up too. "Starfire, wait!" But she had already gone. Raven shook her head, and went back to her meditation. She did not notice the speck flying in the sky, and coming closer.

------------------B------------------

Robin was in the common room playing video games with Beastboy and Cyborg. He stopped when Starfire made her announcement. "Tamaranian? You're sure?"

Starfire was jumping up and down happily. "Absolute!"

"Any idea who he might be?" Cyborg asked.

Starfire stopped jumping. "I do not know. I did not recognize the uniform he wore. And it is not like a Tamaranian to wear a helmet that covers his face in such a way. And he flew away from me in a manner that was very fast."

Robin frowned. "Well, at least we know something about him. I just wish we knew more."

"His name is Windfire. He's with Tamaranian intelligence and arrived on Earth yesterday. He's here to protect Starfire."

Everyone turned to see Raven. Beastboy spoke. "Wow. You must have gotten more of a read on him than you thought."

"Yes, I did. Just now." She looked back towards the stairs to where a young man was floating. He had a helmet under his arm.

"I'm Windfire, Tamaranian intelligence. And you're the Teen Titans."

Starfire flew over. "Yes, yes, we are! It is so nice to see someone from home! How are things on Tamaran? How do you like Earth?"

Windfire appeared a little taken aback by Starfire's friendly assault. He finally stuck his hand out to shake Starfire's. "So you're Starfire. I'm sorry I didn't stop to talk last night. I was . . . I was under orders to work alone, with minimal interference with your team." Windfire smiled. "And I like Earth a lot, so far. And things on Tamaran are fine, as far as I know. I haven't been home in a while, my work takes me around "

Robin saw the way Windfire was looking at Starfire, and he wasn't sure he liked it. "Why does she need protection?" he asked.

Starfire looked back at him. "I am sure that Grand Ruler Gelfore was just nervous about my living here on Earth. So he sent someone to put his eye upon me."

Wildfire put his helmet down on the kitchen countertop. "Actually, I'm afraid it's more serious than that. Have a seat." He motioned to the couch and waited for the Titans to sit down. "You know already that this group you're after is a local militia. They have a racist agenda, and there's evidence that they have a biological weapon of some sort."

Robin nodded. "We found out that engineered salmonella was stolen from a Daggett-owned research lab in Nevada a couple of months ago, and the evidence points to them. Documents from the warehouse bust point to a target in Japantown here in Jump City. What we don't know is where they holding the weapon now."

Windfire grinned. "Well, merry Christmas, because I've got a present for you." He walked over to a nearby console and hacked into the Titan's database. "Here it is," he announced. "53 D'Alamo St. There's an abandoned building there that we suspect the terrorists are using as a hideout. I don't know if the weapon is there yet, but it will be."

Raven leaned over and spoke quietly to Robin. "Tamaranian intelligence seems to know a lot about an Earth terrorist group."

"And their agent knows a lot about our computer system," Robin whispered back. He spoke up to Windfire. "You said you were here to protect Starfire?"

"Yes, we think that there's a plan to kill her as well."

"But why would they want to kill me?" Starfire asked.

Robin smiled at her naiveté. "Star, this bio-weapon of theirs is meant to kill immigrants from another continent. I don't think they much like any immigrant from another world, either."

"I still do not understand."

"What's to understand?" Windfire interjected, suddenly angry. "They're bad guys. We go after them and take them out. Simple."

The Titans were silent for a moment. "So," Beastboy said, "we were going to have dinner pretty soon. Wanna stick around?"

Starfire leaped up excitedly. "Yes, yes! I shall show you our wonderful Tower." She grabbed Windfire by the hand and flew out of the room happily with a surprised intelligence agent in tow.

Once they were gone, Beastboy turned to the others. "Now I'll admit that maybe my ears have been damaged from all the morphing over the years, but he did not sound like a Tamaranian to me."

"You guys catch the way he was able to bypass the security on our computer with no trouble at all?" Cyborg asked.

Robin nodded. "I don't get the impression he's a bad guy, but there are a lot of

unanswered questions. What do you think, Raven?"

Raven was lost in thought. "Huh? Oh." She looked at the place where Starfire had grabbed Windfire and pulled him out of the room. She could faintly hear Star gabbing away excitedly with Windfire. "I think Star's right."

Robin was puzzled. "About what?"

Raven looked at him. "He does seem familiar."

"You think you know him from somewhere, too?" Cyborg asked.

Raven was thoughtful. "I know four things. I know he is Tamaranian, like Starfire said. I know he is not Starfire. I know that I have never met any Tamaranians, aside from Starfire, in my life. But, I know that I have met him, somewhere."

The male Titans were silent for a moment, wondering what this might mean. Beastboy spoke up, saying, "And I always thought I was the one whose speeches didn't make sense."

Raven shrugged apologetically. "For what it's worth, I think you're right, Robin. He doesn't mean any harm to us. And he has particular concern for Starfire."

Robin listened to Starfire laughing upstairs as she showed Windfire around. His expression turned a little harder. "I wonder about that most of all."