Sorry this chapter took so long, thats life. There will be a little more then 10 chapters to this story, so we are not even half way through yet.
when we last left the Titans (and Spidey) Starfire was out to prove herself, Robin was fuming over his last encounter with Spider-Man.
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She hated the city at night. On her homeworld, night was sort, thanks to her planet's odd rotation, and even when it was night, the light from her people's cities lit up the night sky, and in places where there were no cities, the stars from the sky were so numerous and bright one could see perfectly.
Here, on this planet, at night the stars were cut off by a great cloud of fog, it seemed that the only light in the world came from the dimly lit dark, uncaring, buildings below.
It was enough to diminish even her usally cheerful mood. Starfire let out a sigh, she looked down at her wrist, and checked the device that the other Titans had called a watch. It read 10:30, she let out another sigh, this time with more force behind it.
She had already searched the city from west to east, and had not found a single sign of this Spider-Man she was beging to wonder if he was even in the city. Starfire frowned at herself, the way she acting, she should be ashamed! she should not give up so easly!
'I will not give up yet! Two hours of my time is not more then worth the rewards that completing this task!' With renewed strength, Starfire took off towards the west side of the city, to start her search again.
Titan's Tower Main Room--------
"So, do you think she found anything yet?" BeastBoy was leaning back on the couch, arms folded behind his head.
Cyborg looked up from his car magazine, a look of annoyance on his face. " For the tenth millionth time this hour, NO! If she had found something, she would have contacted us on the secure channel, so Robin wouldn't hear it."
" I HATE all this waiting, so, even if she finds this Spider guy, what does she do next? I mean, the guy is listed as a crimnal...sort of. Does she talk to him or fight?"
"Thats her choice BB, and keep it down, the less we talk about this, the less chance Robin has of over hearing us."
"Right, but what if she gets in trouble? This guy could be more then she can handle on her own!"
"Star is able to handle herself, if she needs help, she will call us, now DROP IT!" Cyborg roared.
BeastBoy's face feel, and he got a sheepish look on his face, " Sorry Cy."
Cyborg grumbled from behind his magazine, and Beast Boy, taking that as a warning, got up from the couch. "Maybe I'll just get a snack, you want anything Cy?"
Cyborg sighed, "No"
"Ummm.. ok!" and with a small hop, Beast Boy walked out of the room and made his way to the holy shrine of the Titan's Tower; the fridge.
"yeeeeeeha! Snack time!" Beast Boy leap into the kitchen, not paying attention to the fact that Terra and Speedy were eating dinner at the table, each glancing at one and another when they thought the other was not looking.
"EEEEccccccccccccchhhh!!" BeastBoy made a noise of great distaste as he pushed aside the many types of meats that populated the Titan's fridge.
Speedy gave up his game of 'don't let Terra see you starting at her' to make a quick comment about his green team mate's eating habits. "You know, I don't know what it is with you and not eating meat, other animals eat each other."
BeastBoy swung around and was about to start an hour long discussion on WHY he would not eat meat when Cyborg spoke up before him. "Do NOT ask him that question unless you have a lot of free time on your hands. Just leave him in his own little world and let him have his too-poo."
Terra nodded in agruement,"I have been here only 3 weeks long then you Speedy, but I already know not to start a conversation with BB about meat."
Speedy just shrugged. "ok, what ever you say."
BeastBoy debated whether or not to answer Speedy's question anyway, but the rumbling of his belly told him that he had more important things to attend to. With no further comments, he resumed his adventure for food, shoving his head into the ice box.
At the table where Speedy was at,Terra was looking through a catalog while she was eating, and Speedy couldn't help but notice that most of them seemed to be formal party dresses she was looking at.
"Getting ready for the party we are going to, I see." Speedy had decided in his mind that talking to Terra was better then simply across from her in silence.
Terra was too busy to look up from the catalog to make eye contact. "Well, I already have my dress picked out, its just that..."
"Just what?"
" It is just that the other girls in the tower, StarFire and Raven, don't really have the.....sense of style I have...so I got their sizes and am trying to find dresses for them too."
Speedy snickered. "Careful, Terra, your head might explode if you let your ego get any bigger."
Terra's face flushed red with anger and embarrassment. "It is not like that! Think about it, StarFire is from another planet, and all Raven wants to do is stay in her room all day and aviod just this type of social interaction! At least I try to pay a little attention to differnt styles that come out! I seem to remeber Raven telling me about one time when StarFire knocked on her door. She wanted to show Raven how she had gone to the mall and gotten some hair clips or something and made the biggest mess out of her hair."
With his head neck deep in the fridge, BeastBoy recalled the memory, and mumbled a reply. "You may have a point, Terra."
Jump City-------
Flash, Snap, Click!
"Well, thats ONE picture of Titan's Tower down. Only....." Sitting on a building in his Spider-Man outfit, across the water from Titan Tower,Peter checked his list to see how many he needed. sigh "15 more to go."
Getting up from his postion on the building, Peter Parker, or Spider-Man, put his camera in a web bag and made a running leap towards the next spot where he planned to take another picture. The party is happening next night, I have to get these pictures done or I will not get the chance after the party, I have to leave the day after for New York, and J.J would kill me if I did not get any good pictures of the Tower.
Landing on a building not far from the city bridge, Peter set up his camera for another shot.
ElseWhere in Jump City------------
StarFire came to a hover between two tall buildings, and sighed, she had been at it for almost 4 hours now, and she had not seen a thing, perhaps this spider person was simply not out tonight.
Just as she was thing about going back to the tower and inform the others that she had not found anything, a faint flash came from beside her. It was small, but enough to grab her attention.
StarFire raised an eyebrow, there were not this many people out this time of the night, and who in their right mind would be taking pictures with a....what was the earth word for it? A C-a-m-e-r-a. Someone could be taking pictures of a store to have for refernence later when they robbed it, it was something Robin had taught her.
And then, with Robin's current state now renewed in her mind, StarFire flew off towards the flash.
------------------(Spidey)-------------------------------
Most people would be in bed right now. Spider-Man reminded himself as he checked another picture off his list. A nice warm bed, with soft sheet and pillows, oh, man, I gotta get to sleep soon or I will never wake up in time to get ready for the party.
Stuffing his camera back into his web bag, the web-head scolded himself I should of taken those pictures during the day, then I could of done a short partol of the city and gone to bed, instead of this long ass all nighter.........what? Spidey's head snapped to the left as he pick up something coming in fast. Great, company, and whoever they are, they are not making a lot of effort to keep the noise down.
-----------------(StarFire)-----------------------------
She could help but notice the figure on the roof tense up as she got closer, perhaps she should of made a better attempt to be more silent.
It did not matter now, the person down there knew she was here, and like wise, all she had to do was..............
StarFire almost came to a complete stop as she saw who was sitting on the roof top, The Spider-Man? At Last!! But why would he be using a camera?
As StarFire flew in closer to the Web-Slinger, (Who by now, was starting to panic at the fact some one with bright green eyes and the power to fly was coming right at him.) A small robot of some kind, pearched high on top of a building not far from where Spidey was sitting, watched and recorded the two hero's ever move.
ElseWhere................
Deep in some sub level base, Slade watched the video feed of StarFire's encounter with interest, hands folded together, and his eye fixed on the multiple screens before him.
However, on a TV screen next to him, smaller then the ones that displayed Spider-Man and StarFire, another figure was pictured, and he too was taking an interest in the live feed Slade was supplying him with of the Web-Slinger's encoutner.
"Very good, we have contact." The figure on the TV put out. "Now, to discuss our terms..." At this, Slade turned his chair so he could face the figure in the TV.
"I dislike working with others, they tend to.... make mistakes." Slade answered and narrowed his eye. "but, you have made an interesting offer. I fail,however, to see how you will benifit from it. You have supplied me with much of the money I needed to create my robots over the past few months, and only now have you bothered to contact me, once you heard this 'Spider-Man' was in the Jump City area."
Slade shifted his weight in the chair, unfolding his hands and turning his head so that the figure on the TV screen could only see the side of his face with the eye.
"So,tell me , Mr. O, what do you hope to get out of this exchange of ours? What do you gain? And, I might add, I think that its time that we dispose of the codename, now that we are going to be working together more."
A small flash of a small crossed the figure's lips on the television screen. "Its simple, Mr Slade. I believe that we are kindred spirits, we both have the same problem. We are trying to take control over a situation, and we have encountered.....interference."
The figure lost its smile as he thought about just how much the Interference had cost him. "For me, it was Spider-Man, and for you, the Teen Titans, most of all Robin, their leader."
Slade nodded in agreement, "Yes, they have stood in my way a number of times. Ridding myself of them has become one of my biggest priority's. I see where you are going with this now, you hope to get rid of both parties in one stroke."
"Indeed," The figure on the screen seemed very pleased with itself, " If you manage to do this, Mr.Slade, you will be payed well, and may I also mention the reason I am going through you is that it is extremly important that I have no connection to Spider-Man's destruction at all, at least in the eye of the public."
Slade eye narrowed even more at the figure, if that was possible.There was a certain threat to his voice. " I am not a hired gun, Mr O. I am my own man working towards my own needs, such as yourself."
"Of course, of course, Mr Slade." The figure said in a calm voice. " I only wished to point out that you would be given money for any trouble this task might bring to you, do you not agree?"
Closing his eye, Slade gave a short nod. " Yes, I see. Then it is agreed then?"
"Yes, it is agreed, and I have some information for you. You know of course the Titans will be making a public apperance at a party come tommorow night, I can assure you that the other half of our agreement will be present as well if you stage a... scene there. Also, the equipment you requested during our last talk should also be coming into Jump City airport later that night, I trust you have everything prepared for a quick transfer to your main compound."
Slade inclined his head a little. "And how did you come about this information? How do you know Spider-Man will show?
" I have my sources, let us leave it at that."
"Very well," Slade turned his attention to the other TV screens for a second.
" then I think I have work to do, I will contact you again in a couple of hours to give you an update. It is nice working with you.... Mr...." Slade let the name hang there for a second, wanting to finally get a real name from his contact.
" Osborn, Norman Osborn."