Adventures in Gotham chapter 2.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titan's animated series, comic book, or any other character used in this story. All characters are property of DC Comics.

Setting: Titans Tower, Dining hall

"You know, I heard a bit of that conversation," Batgirl said as she started fixing a salad for herself. "Trying to get the old man to let your friends stay over?"

Robin glanced at her curiously. "Something like that, yeah. Why?"

Batgirl swallowed her first mouthful and replied, "Well, I could help. Mm, this is good stuff!"

Beastboy smirked and gave the visiting crimefighter his best amorous look. "Well, I was in charge of the salad, you know"

Raven shook her head in slight disgust and Cyborg smacked the changeling on his head for a record fifth time of the evening. "Down boy."

Robin turned his attention back to Batgirl. "What do you mean you could help?"

Batgirl smiled lightly as she dabbed her cheek with a napkin. "Well, I mean I could help you talk to him. Present a united front, you know?"

Robin grinned back at her. "The last time we tried to present a "united front" to him was when we tried to convince him to let us take the Batmobile out for the night. You know how well that went over."

Batgirl blanched as she recalled the incident that had led to three extra hours of patrol that night, but quickly regained her poise. "Well, that was different. We aren't putting his precious hardware in danger this time."

Robin smirked as he looked back to his compatriots. "You have apparently never met Beastboy."

Beastboy looked shocked and stood up. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Cyborg pushed him back down. "It means you're a menace to society, you green loony."

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "You're just as bad, Cyborg."

Now it was Cyborg's turn to look shocked as Beastboy burst into a peal of laughter. "Oh man, burned by Raven, that's just too rich, Cy!"

Batgirl giggled and patted Beastboy on the back, causing the green titan lose his motor functions for a moment. "Well, we might as well do it together. You won't get anywhere on your own."

Robin sighed and pushed back his now empty plate. "I guess you're right."

Starfire, who had thus far been quiet, spoke up, "Excuse me for my lack of information, but you are a friend of Robin's, Batgirl?"

Robin spoke for her, "Oh, sorry. I should have done introductions first; I forgot the rest of you haven't met Batgirl before. Well, uh, this is Batgirl. A friend, and a co-worker from Gotham."

Batgirl giggled some more and rose from her seat. "Thank you for that wonderful introduction, Robin. I am indeed Batgirl. A belated 'Happy to Meet You' to all." She acknowledged them each in turn, "Beastboy, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire."

Starfire clapped her hands together, "How joyous to meet you Batgirl! Shall you be my friend as well?"

Batgirl looked slightly confused, until she saw Robin signing 'humor her' from behind Starfire's back. "Oh, well, sure!"

Starfire screamed in excitement and hugged the other girl fiercely. "How wonderful! We shall never part from each other! This calls for much celebration!"

Batgirl donned an expression not unlike the one she had while cornered by Killer Croc and about 20 Joker henchmen. Robin took upon himself to rescue her. "That will have to wait, Star! Batgirl and I have to contact Batman before we go, if we're going at all."

Starfire released her prey with a slight look of bewilderment. "Oh! Forgive me. We will celebrate later, Batgirl!"

Batgirl smiled back at her genially and brushed off her cape. "Sure thing, Starfire. Now, Boy Wonder, shall we get the transmission over with?"

Robin stood from the table and motioned Batgirl to follow him. "Sure, let's go to my room to do it. The rest of you finish eating, I'll be back down with the results when I get them." The two caped crusaders entered the elevator and headed up to Robin's quarters, leaving the rest of the team by themselves.

Starfire looked at her plate with concern. "I do hope Robin's mentor allows us to come! I want to visit his home very much!"

Raven finished the last of her tea and headed back to the living room couch. "Well, it would be something different. I hope we get through, too."

Cyborg blinked his good eye a few times. "Well, this has gotten Raven to say more than three sentences at dinner, I'd say it's a positive development!"

Beastboy yawned and stretched. "Man, eating this much food always makes me sleepy. If we do end up going tonight, I hope I don't have to fly."

Batgirl sat in the sole chair at the desk in Robin's quarters. She noticed he didn't have much in the way of comforts here, even though it was a fairly large living space. There was the aforementioned desk and chair she sat on, a bookcase filled with mostly volumes on various martial arts and criminology, a lonely workstation with various gadgets and costume pieces flung about on it, the wall above the workstation was filled with newspaper clippings of Titan events, a small single bed, and in front of the bed a medium sized chest. Robin was digging through said chest at that moment. She decided to speak up, "Nice place you got here; a little Spartan for my tastes, but look who I'm talking to. Still, this seems a little lacking even by Batman standards. He at least has a meditation area."

Robin briefly paused in his search and looked up at his guest. "Well, I never took to most of the meditation stuff like Batman... Bruce does. You've only stayed over on a couple of occasions, so you may not have noticed, but he seems to think two hours of meditation does as well as eight hours of sleep. Maybe it is, for him. He's a lot more energetic than me in the mornings, anyway. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I tried that once and fell asleep on the roof of Cartiers during the middle of a patrol."

Batgirl laughed out loud and nearly fell out of her chair. "Oh yeah, I think I remember that night! I'm the one who found you, as I recall. Found you right as Catwoman was getting away with $30,000 worth of diamonds. I had just assumed she had knocked you out!"

Robin winced as he recalled the incidents of that particular night. "It would have been less embarrassing if she had. Old man didn't say anything, but he knew. He ALWAYS knows. I got stuck with the roughest parts of the city for the next month after that." He went back to the trunk and rummaged a bit more. He pulled out what looked to be an old, tattered utility belt with a bat sigil on the buckle. "Hmm. My first one. I really should put it in a better place." He shook his head and tossed it over his shoulder, rummaging through the remainder of the chest. "I know I put it in here somewhere..."

Batgirl cocked her eyebrow slightly. "What exactly are you looking for, Boy Wonder?"

Robin glanced briefly back at her before returning his attention back to the chest. "My video communicator. I have my Titans communicator, but it only has a link to the JLA Watchtower, and he's not on watch duty tonight. I'm looking for the one I brought with me here, it has private, secure lines to the main Batcave, the three major satellite caves, the Batmobile, the Batwing, and the Batboat."

Batgirl looked somewhat confused. "Why don't you just use your audio communicator? It's tuned in to him all the time, right?"

Robin shook his head. "It is, but audio's no good. You can't deliver a good pleading face over audio connections; he has to be able to see it. Ah! Here it is." He pulled out a flat metallic object about the size of a notebook. A large bat sigil was emblazoned across the top. He pressed a switch on the side, causing the top to pop up, revealing a flat screen, and a stylus pad control panel.

Batgirl got up and knelt behind him for a better view. "Nifty! When do I get one of these things?"

Robin looked surprised. "You mean you don't have one?"

Batgirl glowered darkly. "Something else I need to bring up with him..."

Robin punched in a numerical sequence on the small pad. "Just leave it until we get back to Gotham, okay? I don't want him mad right now."

Batgirl walked around him and sat on the side of his bed. "Duly noted. How do you want to do this anyway?"

A blank look passed the Teen Wonder's face. "That's... a good question."

Raven stared at her book blankly for a few moments. It wasn't that the book wasn't interesting, although being a medical textbook (one that she had read before, even) didn't help, she had had trouble focusing ever since Robin had made the announcement he would be going to Gotham. She had assumed the anxiety was because without Robin, the last bastion of sanity in the Tower would be gone forever, but, now that there was a chance she and the others may be going with him, it was even worse.

She shifted in her seat slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. She began to wonder what could cause such emotions in her. Why was she so nervous about going to Gotham? Was it because of Batman? Robin spoke of his mentor rarely, but when he did it was with a tone of reverence. What if this Batman decided he didn't like her? Would that mean Robin's opinion of her would change? Was that what she was nervous about? Was Raven, ice queen of the superhero realm, scared?

She shook her head, trying to make herself believe it wasn't so. This wasn't a proper line of thought for her. This was a proper line of thought for Starfire. Only she could get worked up over something so trivial. 'I'll just handle it like I handle everything else,' she thought to herself, 'I'll leave the anxiety to the alien princess.'

This thought had no sooner left her skull than said alien princess floated down beside her with a smile on her face. "Hello friend Raven!"

Raven pretended to study her book. 'Speak of the Devil...' "Hello, Starfire."

The over-eager princess grabbed her teammate in an embrace and squeezed tightly. "Oh, isn't it wonderful? We shall visit Robin's home!"

Raven asserted herself with her powers gently, and broke the embrace. "It's not set in stone, Star. He has to get approval first, and if half the stories I've heard about the Batman are true, that's much easier said than done."

Starfire's mood was unquenchable; her smile merely grew larger. "We shall go! I know it!"

The girl from Azarath closed her eyes and calmed herself as much as possible in Starfire's presence. "Perhaps you're right. We will see in a few moments I suppose."

Starfire blinked at this. "Are you well, Raven? You seem almost distracted."

Raven shook her head. "I'm fine. Listen, Starfire, you...like Robin a lot, don't you?"

Starfire smiled once more and clasped her hands together. "I adore him! I have never met such a brave soul, I could think of no other I would want as my leader!"

Raven cast her eyes downward. "No, I mean you like him... romantically."

Starfire seemed to genuinely consider this for a moment before answering. "Perhaps. My people are a warrior race, and he appeals to me in that way. He would be considered a good potential life mate on my world, even without the ability to fly. And you? Do you desire him?"

Raven looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Maybe. I don't really know much about the ways of love. I feel... different about him than I do Cyborg or Beastboy. I feel more of a connection to him, I guess, although there is more to it than that. I can't it explain in words. I'm not quite sure if you would call that love."

Starfire stared at her friend in wonder. Such an outburst of vocal thought from Raven was unheard of. It was few minutes before Starfire could respond. "Then, you do desire him. Forgive me, I am not, what you call on this world, a psychiatrist, but I think it would be good for you to pursue his interest. Perhaps it could help you to open up a bit more?"

Raven blinked a few times. "Wow, I'm getting psychiatric advice from Starfire. I hadn't realized things were that bad." Raven thought back to earlier that night when Robin had, perhaps unintentionally, grabbed a handful of her chest. Perhaps...she had overreacted. If it had been Beastboy, she wouldn't have felt the need to blast him across the room. A simple glare and perhaps a smack would have sufficed. Maybe she was overcompensating? Was she in love with Robin?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a pot being hurled against the wall in the kitchen. Beastboy and Cyborg were at it again. She turned to Starfire, "Maybe you should check that out?" The Tamaranean simply nodded before streaking into the kitchen.

"Well, there's no use in stalling any longer." Robin hit the main power button and the tiny screen flared to life. Batgirl repositioned herself to get a better view over his shoulder. "We'll need to find out where he is first." The Teen Wonder paused to check the time, which was displayed on the screen. "It's 8:20 right now, regular patrol doesn't start until 9:00. We should be able to catch him in the Cave." He linked up to the proper channel and waited only a few moments before there was a clear connection.

Batman's face took up the entirety on the monitor. An eternal grimace was painted on his face. A gravelly voice emanated from the communicator's small speakers, "Go ahead, Robin…" there was a slight pause as the Dark Knight noticed the second face in the picture, staring over Robin's shoulder, "…and Batgirl." The auburn haired girl seemed happy that he acknowledged her, but did not speak.

Robin coughed and cleared his throat before speaking up, "Well, umm, you know it's kind of slow around here lately, we got most of Jump City's major criminal's behind bars, and well, my friends…. They were, uh… kinda, uhh..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his rambling, as Batman cut him off, "What about Deathstroke?" (A.N.: for you cartoon followers, Deathstroke is Slade's alias in the comic book).

Robin shook his head; "He's MIA, right now. Besides, he won't harm the city while we're away: we are his targets."

Batman raised his eyebrow slightly; "What do you mean, while we're away?"

Robin cursed himself for bumbling earlier and responded, " Right, about that…well…"

He was cut off again, this time by Batgirl. She leaned over his shoulder and addressed the monitor; "He wants the other Titans to come to Gotham with us. Just for a short while."

The Dark Knight went silent for a few uncomfortable minutes. After what seemed an eternity to Robin, he spoke up again; "Do you think Deathstroke would follow you to Gotham?"

Robin took a few moments to consider the question. He wouldn't put it past Slade to do something like that, but it didn't seem like too much of problem. He answered, "Well, there is the possibility he would try that, but it's nothing we couldn't handle; especially with you there."

Batman grunted and leaned back a bit. He seemed to contemplate something and then abruptly answered; " I will allow it." Robin was now sporting a smile that spread from cheek to cheek, but his mentor was not finished; "However, we can not afford to be conspicuous at Wayne Manor. Save yourself, every member of your team has a public identity. Therefore, you may only pick one member to stay here, with us. I'll put the rest up in a hotel as Titans. I'd suggest that you pick the least… garish… of your companions."

'Just one?', Robin thought to himself, 'well, that's more than I expected…' He considered his options: 'Least "garish" huh? Well, let's see… Starfire: Orange skin, green eyes; that won't work. Cyborg: Half robot; that won't work either… Beast Boy: Green skin; nope, definitely won't work… Well, I suppose that just leaves...' "Raven," he said aloud. Sure, she was a bit pale, but other than that she looked completely human, which was more than he could say for his other companions.

The Batman closed his eyes and rubbed his chin. "Raven then," he said, "yes, that will work. That will work fine. Go tell them, then. Come to Gotham discreetly and meet me on the roof of the fourth relay point, downtown. Don't worry about the time; I'll be there. I will make the arrangements."

Robin almost laughed at loud. He couldn't believe that they actually got the old man to agree to the plan. He almost clicked the machine off, but caught himself in time to say a quick "Thank you!" All he got was a grunt as a reply and the connection was terminated from the Gotham end. He turned off the power and was surprised to feel Batgirl embrace him from behind. "Gahh!" was all he could say.

Batgirl pouted and released the young hero. She giggled just a bit and said, "You are so easy to tease, really." She got up and walked over to Robin's workstation and picked up a metal sphere. "Lots of interesting gadgets. This is what you do with your free time? You really are going to be as bad as Batman one day."

Robin shook his head and said, "Careful with that, it shoots nerve gas." He watched with some amusement as she let the metal sphere drop like it had suddenly caught on fire. He laughed a bit and headed towards the exit door. "No, really it's just a piece of junk I scrapped from a killer robot that was rampaging through the city a couple of weeks back. C'mon, let's go and tell everyone the good news."

"No way, Cyborg! No way! It's YOUR turn!" Beastboy dodge another of Cyborg's blasts and ducked under the table.

Cyborg lifted up the table, causing several plates to shatter on the floor. "You're doing these dishes, you little green menace!" Said green menace turned into a mouse and scurried under the counter. "Grr… quit running!"

Beastboy managed to run behind Beastboy in mouse form and transformed into a gorilla, grabbing the bigger boy in a sleeper hold. "I told you, it's your turn you walking soda machine!" Cyborg was about to flip the ape over when the two were violently separated, and both ended up on the floor.

Starfire stood between them with her hands out, facing both of them. "Please friends! You must stop!" The orange skinned alien princess seemed on the verge of tears. "You will upset our new friend!"

Beast Boy immediately morphed back into his human form and scratched his head. "Don't get bent out of shape, Star. We do this, like, every night."

Cyborg got up and brushed himself off. "Yeah, like salad head said. We do this all the time. It's like our routine now!"

A cold female voice cut through all of them. "As I am constantly reminded every second you two are in the same room." Raven gave all three an uncaring glance as she finished materializing in the room. "We do have a guest here, you know. I'd like it if she would think that we all aren't uncivilized animals."

Beast Boy gave an indignant "Hey!" before being cut off again by another voice. Robin stood framed in the kitchen doorway, and said: "Guys, we're going."

End part 2.

Random Author Notes:

I probably should have made this clear earlier, but I suppose later is better than never. This story takes place primarily in the Teen Titans animated universe, but I will be nicking some things from other DC continuities (the comics, both pre and post Crisis, BtAS, the JLA/JLU animated series, etc.). The best example of which would be that in this story Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator has been restored to the badass merc we all know and love as opposed to the Doctor Doom clone they turned him in to in the show (that always pissed me off majorly, because Slade in the comics was always such a cool CHARACTER, as opposed to the cardboard cut-out super-villain that he is in the cartoon. Plus eye patches RULE!).