Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but shadow and Katie who are the same person!

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Chapter Five: Family Matters

          As Shadow flew off towards her home, she thought about how nice all of the Teen Titans had been to her. They wouldn't have been so nice if they knew who your father is, said a little voice at the back of her head. "But they don't know who he is, so it doesn't matter." She said aloud.  Yes it does, the voice argued. Even if you do get on the team you won't be able to hide the truth from them for long. "Just watch me." She whispered to herself as she landed on the front porch of her small beat-up ranch-style house. It was an old abandoned thing that her father had found when reeking havoc in Gotham City a few years ago. Apparently, her father liked it, because they moved in and hadn't moved since.

          She slowly opened the front door and listened. Silence. Good, she told herself. It doesn't sound like dad's home yet. She slowly tip-toed up the stairs up to her room. Her door was closed. That's funny, she thought to herself. I don't remember closing my door when I left this morning. She slowly reached for the doorknob.

          "I see you're home," said a voice behind her. Shadow spun around to find herself face-to-face with her dad. "How was," he paused for a moment, as though to let the words sink in. "Tryouts." He finished. Shadow stood deathly still.

          He knows, she thought. She was terrified, but tried her best not to show it. She finally gathered enough courage to speak. "What do you mean 'tryouts'?" She asked, hoping he would buy it.

          He didn't. "Two words," he said, as though the sight of his daughter looking terrified of him was highly amusing. Except of the fact that he wasn't laughing. Wasn't smiling. That is what made his words so terrifying. "Teen," he said simply, "Titans."

          "Um. I, uh, I can um," Shadow stammered. Oh no! She thought.  He knows! I'm doomed!

          "Why didn't you tell me you were trying out to be a Teen Titan? You knew I would find out sooner or later." He said casually. "But now that I know," he paused with a smirk, "We can get strait down to business. You know how to spy on people don't you?"

           Shadow snapped. She started yelling and screaming. If there had been anything to throw, she would have been throwing things too. "I WILL NOT SPY ON THEM FOR YOU!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "IM TIRED OF HAVING TO BETRAY EVERY FRIEND I EVER MAKE FOR YOU! I GOING TO BECOME A TEEN TITAN, AND WHEN I DO, IM NEVER COMING BACK!" When she was finished, she leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, her throat hurting from screaming so hard. She slid down the wall to the floor.

          Her father walked over to her and held out his hand to help her up. Shadow didn't take it.

          "Now, Katie-"

          "My name isn't Katie anymore." Said Shadow quietly, looking at the floor.

          "Oh?" Said her father in a mocking (yet still serious) tone of voice, "Well what is you name then?"

          "My name is Shadow." She said. "I don't answer to the name Katie anymore."

          "Now Katie," Her father said, "I'm you father and-"

          Shadow stood up, and looked her father strait in the eyes. They were dark and cold. Very unlike her mother's had been. "I already told you," she said, her voice quiet and hoarse, "My name is not Katie. And you are not my father."

          And with that, Shadow turned around, walked through the wall into her room, and packed her things. When she was done, she pushed her large oak chest out of the way, revealing a missing plank in the floor. She reached inside, and pulled out her life savings. $3,000. She had been saving up her allowance ever since her mom died. Just in case. She decided she was going to stay in a cheap hotel near Titans Tower.

          She put the money in her pocket, picked up her suitcase, hitched her backpack on her back, and flew through the ceiling into the night air, her curly red hair flowing behind her.

          "I will never," she vowed as she flew towards town, "Ever return here, and I will also never let anyone find out that my father is the infamous Slade."

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Ha! Ha! I left you with a cliffhanger! Hee! Hee! Hee! If you really wanna know what happens next, you'll just have to wait! I have to go back to school tomorrow, so I might not be able to update until Saturday! Sorry! Keep checking just in case though!