Note: Something that I forgot to mention earlier...this episode is post-Haunted in the series time, so it is after the "death" of Slade and Terra. Anyways, carrying on...

Chapter Four-Unsure

The rest of the team watched as Mirage finished with a heavy silence and then stood up absentmindedly.

"I need some air." She ran long, tanned fingers through her ebony hair, not meeting the eyes of any there before crossing the room to where a passageway led to a ladder that ascended to the roof. Obviously the H.I.V.E. had studied blueprints to Titans Tower. Climbing up the ladder, Mirage ascended through the trap door and disappeared.

Robin watched her for a few minutes, and then turned to the rest of the team. "Does anyone else feel she's leaving out a few key parts?"

Starfire gasped. "You think her intentions are malicious?"

"I think she's hiding something."

"Most people do," Raven said darkly from her corner of the room.

Beast Boy, unnaturally silent, just frowned in brooding. Cyborg was the one who spoke up first.

"How do we know she's telling the truth?"

Robin's frown deepened. "We don't."

Mirage stood on the roof of Titans Tower, her normal appearance visible again. Though she looked out at the waters surrounding the Tower, she didn't see anything. She certainly didn't see the green rat watching her from the shadows.

"Of all the forms I could have chosen, I chose her..." she muttered to herself heavily. Suddenly she winced as a terrible pain seized her mind, and a dark mist surrounded her forebodingly. Her silver locks turned to black, her ever changing eyes to icy blue, and her pale skin gained a normal glow. As she straightened again, she smirked. Mirage wasn't in control anymore. But Illusion was.

Illusion's cold eyes scanned for signs of life, but like her other half, missed the watching rodent. Reaching into her blue jean pocket she pulled out a communicator and turned it on. The face of Brother Blood flickered into view.

"Illusion! I trust all went? You are in control?"

"For the moment. The fool used my form to put the green one at ease. They will believe me as Mirage."

"Excellent...do not forget. We need the Titans defeated. And we need Mirage kept in check, as well." Brother Blood put emphasis on the last sentence. The rat's beady eyes narrowed.

But just as suddenly as the pain came for Mirage, so it came for Illusion. She bent her head and clasped her hand to her black hair in agony. The casual clothes melted into black, a trench coat took the place of a denim jacket, and silver hair framed a pale face with startling eyes. Mirage looked at the communicator in her hand with unconcealed disgust. Her eyes flashing a dark gray, she snarled at the communicator, and more so at the man on the screen.

"Leave—me—alone," she said in a dangerous tone. "Do not come near me. Do not come near the Titans. And tell that witch of yours to back off."

"The man on the screen smirked. "I've got a better idea, Mirage. Instead of me telling her, why don't you tell her yourself? It will only be a quick look in the mirror..."

Mirage snapped the device off and threw it off the side of the building, watching it smash against the rocks on the shore. Walking back toward the trap-door, she descended again angrily.

And from the shadows emerged a shocked green boy.