Day Two…
"Finally!" sighed Robin as the Batmobile headed straight for a cliff wall. It runs through the hologram and into the dark depths of the earth. It had been a long day…
The bats screeched in their spectre like forms, flurrying about with their sinuous wings. The stalactites like teeth patterned the ceiling of the vast underground caverns, and either side of the barely suitable road was a dark fall, unmeasurable to the human eye for the blackness of the depth.
The car went to a sudden yet easy stop upon its dim lit platform. The dripping of water and dreary drones of the bat cave resounded as the screeches of the swirling bats died down. Then The Batman stepped out, eyeing his speeding ticket with some annoyance…
As soon as the Dynamic Duo had entered Gotham, there was trouble a foot. Many gangs had opened up a drag racing contest along the roadside, thinking it amusing to have human speed bumps. The Batman certainly gave them many bumps to remember. Robin almost enjoyed the work back in his old home city.
They're arrival was also anticipated by many other mobs, who made many potholes as they bazooka shot the batmobile through the streets. Fortunately, what they had in shot they lacked in punch, and a long chase ended their spree. To say the least, it was a long night…
"Ah! Master Bruce! And young Master Dick! How long has it been? How pleasant to see you again." says Alfred the butler, walking down with a plate of fresh sandwiches. His English accent and manner was a calm reminder of the real class and style of Wayne Manor's upper appearance.
"Hi Alfred; long time no see!" replies Robin, glad to see the kindly face again.
"Thanks Alfred. Any mail?" asks the Batman, discreetly hiding his ticket.
"A mountain's worth sir. A mere trifle as usual." he says smiling.
"Then I'll be in my study…" drones the Dark knight. "I don't want to be disturbed until dawn…" and his shadowy figure disappears upstairs.
"Still hasn't changed much has he?" comments Robin. "He keeps reminding me why I left in the first place…"
"Cucumbers."
"What?"
"Sandwich."
"Oh… yeah. Thanks Alfred." and he takes one in his mouth as he un-loads his R-cycle. "Y'know, I'm sort of peckish for…"
"One Hawaiian pizza has been delivered to your room."
"Thanks. I'll probably need…"
"Your training outfit is set up on your bed. Along with your old style of attire, which I took the liberty of increasing size."
"Also…"
"A supply of your usual equipment is in your section of the lab. You may leave the motorcycle in the old villain museum section, to the right and under the spectroscopic-meter. Drinks are supplied on the third dinning table. 'Samurai Jack' will be starting in about ten minutes twenty on the 'cartoon network' station as it is called."
Robin finishes the sandwich. "You never cease to amaze me Alfred."
"It is my 'job' as you call it young master."
Robin enjoyed having this pampered life, with everything he needed. But having friends like Raven, Cyborg, Beastboy and Starfire really made the difference in Titan Tower. He wondered how they were going without him. He looks at his watch… he's long overdue for his phone call. He begins to rush up, but Alfred hands him the phone. He sure hoped Starfire wasn't worried. She took things very seriously sometimes…
…
Cyborg swore he could hear some weird sound from downstairs. He started to sweat a little, but knew he was now the master of the manor. Whatever it was, he could certainly handle it himself without having to alarm the others. The faint sound of a creaky chair was faint and hardly discernable from the snores of Beastboy in the next room; but it was there.
In his blue P.J.s he got up stealthily with a bat in his hand. Though he didn't really need a bat considering what he had in weapon stockpiles; it seemed the natural thing to do when something goes bump in the night…
He opens the door and the sound is more prominent. With the carefulness and silentness of an eel in oil, he makes his way to the staircase. Unfortunately, it was the typical haunted mansion staircase and so it had the original creaky board sound that Cyborg almost freaked out at.
Despite the fact he had once eaten a monster, he was nonetheless still frightened of the slimy/hairy/ghostly things. With his feet adjusted, he jumps down from the railing to avoid the stairs, landing softly by the cushioning of his special designed bunny slippers.
The creaky noise seems to be coming from near the phone, slower than before, but still with its haunting allegro. Cyborg crept up silently. Stepping on some scattered m & m's he almost slips down in a crash, but manages to grab the sofa. His hand just happened to find a stray pizza, making him slip again, though luckily the sound and impact of his fall was muffled by the soft plastic empty bottles of mustard.
"Maybe I should start cleaning a bit…" he thinks to himself. He finds better footing amongst the rubbish littered floor and continues onward, to the sound, to the shape with bat in hand.
There it was, a strange dark shape, hunched and half a man's height. Its body seemed to be massive, with legs hardly visible. Its arms strayed down to the floor and its head, with long creepy hair, stretched out at the phone. What kind of a monster was this? Preparing himself for the sight, Cyborg turns on the light. Beads of sweat appearing and his blood draining from his cheeks… The lights come on…
"BOOYAH!" he shouts out with bat ready in swing. But he needn't be alarmed.
In front of the hone, Starfire sat slouched in her wheelchair. Her lurch towards the telephone causing the chair to creak a bit. Her arms touched the ground as she stared pathetically, her eyes wide and her mouth closed in suspense. Her hair seemed a bit frazzled from her lack of sleep, a few mugs of coffee are upon the table next to her.
Cyborg sighs in relief. "Boy you sure gave me a fright Star!" he says, putting his bat down. "What on earth are you doing up at this time of the night?" and he scratches his head.
"Hasn't… called… must… wait…" she says drearily. She gulps down another coffee and continues her glare at the phone.
"Good grief girl! You're going to get Robin really, really angry at me if you continue like this!"
"Hasn't… called… must… wait…"
Cyborg took pity on the distraught alien. "Look! It's almost three o'clock Star! If he has any sense he probably won't call till morning. He probably just forgot or something…"
"FORGOT? OR SOMETHING?" yells out Starfire in distress. Her eyes glare green and she somehow grabs Cyborg by the collar and shakes him. "ROBIN COULD BE IN DANGER! HE COULD BE IN DEADLY PERIL! HE MIGHT BE DEAD FOR WHAT INFORMATION WE HAVE!" and she drops Cyborg to the floor and looks at a picture of Robin by the still silent phone. "Maybe he doesn't like me anymore…" she moans and cries a little. "Maybe he's ignoring me because… because…"
"Because?" says Cyborg, recovering from the throttle.
"BECAUSE HE MAY HAVE MET ANOTHER GIRL, A HUMAN GIRL, WHO IS PRETTIER AND NICER AND MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN MEEEEE!" and she starts to mope all over a cushion.
"Now that's just the caffeine talking!" says Cyborg. He gentry trundles Starfire to the elevator he set up. "Now it's time you got some rest. Just head up and take it easy. I'm sure…"
"But you are not certain!" says Starfire pleadingly, grabbing onto the couch to try and reach the phone. "I have to; I need to wait for him!"
"You're not making this easy Star!" says Cyborg as he tries dragging the wheelchair off, but she continues to pull the couch as they make slowly for the elevator. "Just try and get some sense back into your head!"
"I do not wish to go!" she wails and starts to make a siren out of her crying.
"I HOPE THAT'S NOT YOU SINGING AGAIN YOU IMP!" yells Raven from upstairs.
"I'M NOT SINGING!" comes the reply from Beastboy. "JUST PUT SOME CLAY INTO YOUR EARS OR SOMETHING!"
"WILL YOU TWO STOP FIGHTING ALREADY!" yells Cyborg, pushing Starfire into the elevator.
The phone rings…
…
"I hope it's not too late for them…" thinks Robin in Gotham, holding the phone to his ear.
…
Cyborg is bowled over by the rushing force of Starfire, who immediately surges to the phone. However, a bit of her wheel-chair snags on a pulley and Cyborg is lifted up in the elevator. Starfire is about to reach the phone, when the weight of Cyborg pulls her back. The platform comes back down and Cyborg hits the floor, Starfire is back where she started, but determined, she rushes again and again and again with the same results.
"MERCY PLEEEAASE!" cries out Cyborg, as ruffled as a pancake. The rope of the pulley finally snaps from the strain, with Cyborg, unfortunately, still in the air. "Crud…"
As he smashes into the floor with what's left of the elevator, Starfire hurriedly reaches the phone and picks it up.
…
"They must be asleep!" mutters Robin and he gives the phone back to Alfred who puts it on the receiver.
"Do you think they will be a tad upset you didn't ring?" asks Alfred. "I hear the bunch are quite attached to you."
"They're okay. They don't really need to hear from me every night." and he yawns walking upstairs.
…
Starfire is very distraught, let down, sad, angry and fuming all at once. She puts the phone back down calmly before lathering up a huge yell of emotion. On the other side of town a few birds peacefully sleeping in the trees fly off in sudden fear from the sound. Cyborg is hiding behind what he can as Starfire rolls around the living room in her wheelchair with her bat swinging around.
"Look Star! It isn't all that bad! Right?" he holds up a cushion over his head, but the impact still comes through. "OWOWOW! I'm being attacked by someone with broken legs! HELP!"
"Ungh! Just let me die in peace!" moans Raven from upstairs.
"Ding dong the witch is dead…"sings Beastboy.
"I DON'T CARE WHAT TIME IT IS! YOU ARE GOING TO GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU!"
The scene travels outside of the humble mansion as beams of green and black start lighting the windows with sounds of smashing things and a lot of painful squeals and shouts.
The sun hasn't even risen on day two…
…
When the sun finally comes over the eastern horizon, the mansion is in a bit of a shambles. Broken wood, bottles, torn curtains and various items of food litter the place like a tornado had hit. They all stare at the mess with dreary looks.
"Oh man!" says Cyborg with a black eye. "What a mess!"
"Good observation captain obvious!" says Raven. All of them sigh with bags under their eyes.
"Well my back is still a bit out of line." moans Beastboy, giving an evil glance at Raven. "I'll be up in another hour or so."
"Why not go the extra mile and make it two!" remarks Raven. They both part to their separate rooms with a slam.
Starfire is already fast asleep in her wheelchair, hugging the phone under her arms along with a bruised wooden bat. Cyborg looks upon the chaos with dreary eyes and a dreary face.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" he groaned. He had a lot of work to do… such was the duty of the man of the house…
…
Robin liked having his breakfast served to him each morning (Though very early to start training), but the days with the titans had been quite different, so he had trouble adjusting to the fact that he needn't really do much around the mansion in terms of cleaning, fixing food or generally helping around.
Bruce Wayne, Gotham's most respected billionaire philanthropist sat down reading over his papers, drinking his coffee and eating his toast. Richard Grayson sat at the other end of the thirty seated table, the ex-circus acrobat and faithful aid of Wayne, he crunches on his cornflakes. Alfred Pennyworth, the old butler/gardener/staff of the mansion went about cleaning the dwelling, every nook and cranny of the huge estate as he had done for so many years. Such was a typical morning in Wayne Manor.
The young Master Dick hoped that the others were faring just as well… there is a small alarm and in a flash, Bruce and Dick make for the secret entrance of the Bat cave.
"I don't suppose you will want the buttered scones?" says Alfred picking up the plate. "I must stop making these all the time. The pigeons around here are getting much too obese, dear me!"
…
As Cyborg sat down, he couldn't help smiling at the tidy mansion. The place was practically sparkling, the garbage was out and the elevator was fixed with extra safety modifications. He sat down and sighed happily at the good work he did.
Starfire was also now awake but still firmly holding the phone and bat. She wanted to help clean up, but her powers were limited by her two cast legs. Beastboy and Raven soon came back out; they had stopped fighting but still weren't talking. They looked at the place and whistled.
"Wow Cy! Nice job here!" says Beastboy impressed. "Sorry. I didn't know you would start cleaning already! Sorry about last night too!"
"Yeah. Same here…" mumbles Raven, also a built guilty.
"I am also very sorry for my actions friends." says Starfire, "I was not my usual self and…"
"Please guys!" says Cyborg happy for the apologies, but as a friend, wasn't going to gloating about it. "I know you're sorry. Let's just see it doesn't happen again. Heck! I'm half responsible too!" They all smile in agreement.
"I still do not know why I was so angry?" sighs Starfire. The others take pity for her. "I promise never to be so tense in such situations, nor so highly strung in…"
The phone rings…
Starfire is so startled by it she whacks the device with the bat and smashes it to pieces. The other's just stare blankly with open jaws. Starfire almost faints in shock…
…
"That's strange!" mutters Robin. "The connection seems to be out!" and he puts the phone down.
"Maybe it has something to do with that strange signal?" says Batman as the raced through the streets in the Batmobile.
"Whatever it was, it certainly knows how to get our attention! Five planes almost collided from the transmition waves!"
"I have a feeling that was just a test run for something bigger." says Batman gravely. He knew these villains long enough to read parts of their minds. But it was hard to dwell too deep in the minds of the criminally insane.
"Do you have a trace on the signal Alfred?" says Robin through the intercom.
"I have, but I do not think it will be of much aid…" replies Alfred. "I do think that someone is trying to annoy us."
"On screen." says Batman, activating it through voice control.
There is only one green character on the black screen.
A question mark…
…
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" says Starfire covering her face with embarrassment. Cyborg is busy fixing the phone.
"Look Star, it's as I said; no worries. Everything's fine and great!" he sighs.
"Hakuna Matata!" smiles Beastboy, eating some tofu.
"Please don't start that again!" says Raven as she heads outside with a small shovel and brimmed hat.
"Where are you going friend Raven, and why are you carrying a dog poo scoop?" says Starfire confused.
"It isn't a poo scooper. It's a gardening shovel." corrects Raven.
"You? Gardening?" says Beastboy. "You're not possessed or anything, are you?"
Raven just gives him a look and goes to the small garden. In a way, she was possessed, but she'd rather not talk about it.
"She's so weird." says Beastboy, and he chomps on some more lime flavoured Tofu.
"She's probably just trying to relax a bit that's all." says Cyborg, who was actually having a good time fixing and enhancing the phone. "We should all try to have a relaxing time out."
Starfire trundles to the kitchen and thinks to herself sorrowfully. "This mansion was meant to be a good holiday from our hassles; a break away from danger. But when the fiend Joker showed up, things could not be more stressful on everyone. And now that we finally have time for ourselves, I am not able to join in. I wish I could have some fun…" sighs Starfire, looking at her bandaged legs. "I wish I was not so weak and immobile."
She used the remote to see what was on television. It was some kind of racing derby down some rocky mountain. Some earthlings found this sport surprisingly fun… she thought to herself…
…
Raven looked at the garden and sighed. She had figured that if she was to begin to try and stop her powers from controlling her, she should try not only to control her powers, but to depend less on them, so that one day she might be able to break free. She got on her knees and started digging at the weeds.
Beastboy was busy reading comics. He was still a bit angry at Raven, but then again, he knew he couldn't stay like that forever. But something rather mean and nasty inside him still wanted to be the childish little imp. He smirked wickedly as he began welling up jokes in his mind to annoy Raven with…
…
Cyborg put the phone down in his basement garage, and was about to get some breakfast for himself when the phone rang. He answered…
"Hey Cyborg; how are you handling things?" says Robin.
"Hey Rob! Things are swell! Why didn't you call yesterday?" replies Cyborg. He started to walk upstairs; Starfire would probably want to speak with him.
"Sorry. Got a little hassled by some street gangs, we got them though; just waiting for the next strike."
"That's good." says Cyborg. He doesn't hear the weird trundling sound from the staircase. "Hope you can get just a good a response from Star. Man was she upset!"
"Oh no…" mutters Robin. "She's alright now isn't she CY? And what's that sound?"
"Oh, it's just her riding down the stairs."
"Sorry?"
"She's riding down the stairs."
"SORRY?"
"STARFIRE IS JUuust… riding… down… the stairs?" says Cyborg weakly as she watches Starfire gleefully bumping down the staircase in her wheelchair, steering round the bend like a professional racer. Cyborg just stares in shock, trembling with the phone in his hand. Robin was not that amused.
"Starfire?" calls out Robin. Starfire hears it and quickly snatches the phone. She is rather ecstatic.
"Oh friend Robin! I was so worried about your well being. Why did you not transmit back to us yesterday? Did you have a good transportation trip? How are you faring against the dangers of the city of Gotham? How long before I can get a vehicle licence? Do you know of any good rocky dirt tracks? Why…?"
"Could I please speak to Cyborg for a sec Star?" says Robin calmly.
"I will be waiting." says Starfire and hands the phone to bewildered Cyborg.
Cyborg answers to the raging Robin drearily. "U-huh… yeah… I thought so… yes … yes sir… I… it won't happen again… right… yeah… I hope not…" and he hands the phone back to Starfire a bit shaken.
As she chats to Robin over the phone, Cyborg can't help but think that Starfire needs to get out more…
…
"Buzz off." says Raven to a fly. Beastboy transforms back into himself and sits next to Raven who is mysteriously sitting and staring blankly at the garden.
"Hey, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." he says smiling.
"Ha-ha!" she says sarcastically.
He is not deterred so easily. "That's good! You must be in the mood for some jokes!" he says exited. Raven just stares off into the garden emotionlessly. "Okay! Why did the Cowboy want to die with his boots on?" Raven stared blankly. "Because, he didn't want to stub his toe when he kicked the bucket! Get it?"
A mysterious breeze blows a tumble weed across the path.
"What do you call a crate of ducks?" continues Beastboy. "A box of quakers!"
Aside from a small movement that seemed to be a nervous twitch of irritation, there were no life signs on Raven.
Beastboy didn't give up. "Where were chips first fried? In Greece!" he tried with little progress. "What is the definition of debate? The thing that lures de' fish in! Why did the orange stop on the hill? It ran out of juice! If you drop a white hat into the red sea, what does it come out as? Wet! Do sailors go on safaris? Not safaris I know!"
Still no reaction, but his next joke certainly did…
"What did the man say at the end of the world?" Beastboy asked, looking at her face hopefully. If he wasn't looking at her face, he would have noticed her whole body cringe. "Armageddon outta here!" he laughs. Raven doesn't laugh, but answers dauntingly.
"Do you remember when we first arrived here, and I went back here?" she asks.
"Um… yeah…" he answers. He was expecting serious injuries. This was different. "You planted something didn't you?"
"Here is its fruit…" she says, and hands him a few withered looking purplish things.
"Um…" he says, not wanting to insult her. "They're really nice… uh… prunes…"
"They're pumpkins…"
"Sorry…" says Beastboy, he looks around to try and cover up. "Those flowers look nice though!" he says, looking at a large bunch.
"They're weeds…"
"Err. That vine is very nice!"
"That's the metal railing…"
"Those are some yummy looking apples!"
"They're oranges…"
"Um… which ones in that corner are weeds?" he asks, to try and find some at least one plant to praise about.
"All of them…"
"That water feature is good."
"It was a tree…"
Beastboy grimaces and desperately tries to find at least one plant that survived. "What about that nice flower down there?"
"There's a flower?" says Raven hopefully. Beastboy smiles, he finally seems to have snagged the right line.
"Down there in that bare patch!" he says and they walk over. Indeed there was a very nice single flower on a small plant in a small patch of unspoiled earth. Its yellow petals were bright and the green of its leaves was healthy and fine. It seemed like the sole victor in this battlefield of a garden.
"I… I can't… believe it!" says Raven. She almost finds the courage to smile.
"It's beautiful!" agrees Beastboy, feeling the leaves and petals of the small plant. "It's so fine and healthy! Top of its peak! And the flower is so delicate and glossy!"
Raven bends down to have a touch of her own. Finally, after all her work and endeavours to bring life… there was some hope… A small sapling that seemed to symbolise her very delicate future, a future of life in hope and happiness, a future of…
As soon as she touches it, the whole plant withers and dies in a grey heap, seemingly disintegrating into ash.
…
Beastboy is a little surprised, but he almost jumps out of skin when Raven shows some real abnormal emotions…
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she cries out in total breakdown. WHY DO I HAVE TO BE SO LETHAL? I DON'T WANT TO BE EVIL! I DON'T WANT TO BE EEEVIILL!" she yells out to the heavens.
"Maybe it was just going to die soon anyway Rae! Don't be so…" he tries to comfort her, but he is too startled by the emotions.
"WHY DOES EVERYTHING I TOUCH DIIIEEE?" she wails. Beastboy takes one careful step away.
"Calm down Rae for crying out loud… err… sorry! I mean… it's not the end of the world or anything!"
She stares at him bleakly for a second before she cries some more then runs off into the house and upstairs, slamming the door as she blubbers upon her bed. Beastboy is upset and confused at her behaviour; wondering whether is was something he said?
"WHAT DID YOU DO NOW!" shouts Cyborg from inside the house.
"WHO IS BEING A ROYAL ZARGNARF?" adds Starfire.
Beastboy sighs… he was going to have trouble explaining this one!
…
Robin put down the batmobile phone as they approached the forest adjoining the manor. The night was getting on, and they needed to refuel before patrolling again. However, a red warning light flashes and they are forced to make a detour.
"Tracking device!" exclaims Robin.
"That signal must have been bait to lure us out." comments Batman calmly. "Proceed with caution…"
"I know the drill."
The two get out of the car with scanners out. The dark pine forest howled the wind in its rustling needles. They soon find the device strapped onto the rear fender. It is a bomb…
"How do you suppose we get it off?" asks Robin to the ex-FBI agent and bomb technician.
"I think we're about to find out!" says Batman, and both their scanners suddenly go haywire. All the equipment in the batmobile suddenly flashes before calming down again. The bomb makes a very traditional ticking sound.
"It was that signal again! It triggered the bomb!" says Robin.
"Or our pause in motion triggered the signal." says Batman as he bends down to take a closer look. There are two wires in the circuitry. The bomb has writing on it.
Batman, for a long time you have hovered between your identity as a man and as a bat, between the ordinary and the extraordinary, between life above in the light and the darkness. For too long have you willingly chosen to be both simultaneously, when there can only really be one true choice or rather fate. They are both two sides of the same coin batman, but only one can face up in a flip. Cut the right wire, there is only one true answer, and such is your fate.
Harvey Dent
Twoface
Batman grimaces and looks at the two wires. Robin hands him a blast shield from the car before being gestured away while the Batman played a coin toss with Twoface.
Twoface was a criminal who regarded fate, rather than choice was what mattered most. It was either yes or no, there was no in between. There was either death or life, and if a coin toss said death, then death it must be. Batman cut a wire and suddenly the bomb flashed red. He covered himself with the blast shield and Robin got ready with a fire extinguisher, but it was not needed.
A small letter came out from the defused bomb.
If you can read this letter, then you have saved your bat car. Congratulations. You have chosen to be Batman, and thus you have been destined to a life of darkness, for you risked your life to save your wagon of justice so that more may be saved. If you had not done so, you would have chosen to be a man; who is fearing of death and logical enough to allow the explosion to occur to the expense of your vehicle. But seeing as you are dependant on your vehicle, you are certainly Batman, nothing more. So with choosing one hand, you have lost the other. You have chosen to be a bat, so you have lost the mankind. The opportunity cost.
Twoface
The radio in the car bleeps and Batman picks it up. Robin thinks he already knows what just happened, and in the eyes of the Batman, he does to.
"Batman." says Commissioner Gordon over the radio. "Drive by shooting in Benton Street. One man mowed down as he walked home from work. Witnesses clearly state Twoface was behind the attack."
"One man?" says Batman.
"I may not have called you otherwise for such a murder old friend, but he was completely torn apart that it is impossible to identify him." and his voice seems to show some sickness at the scene of the crime. "I was hoping you may give us a clue, since we found this nearby." and he holds up an evidence bag to the Batcam. It is a metal disk resembling a coin, with one side saying Batman, and the other saying Man; which is worn away by long cruel scratches.
When the Twoface killed, he wasn't picky, just faithful to his chance of a coin. For every time he flipped the coin, he was gambling the fate of a life. For whatever business that poor man walking home was doing, Twoface did not know and did not care, he was in the wrong place in the wrong time, or as the Twoface would put it; the right place at the chosen time.
Batman clenched his fist and scrunched the letter.
Robin felt that it was going to be a long week ahead…
…
…
…
Author's note:
Hope you enjoyed that! Things are building to a twist for the titans. And by the way, the bad/good guy profiles below are for The Lancer series that are about Robin and Starfire's kid that I'm thinking about doing. Though The Leech will make a small appearance in the current story, it will be very short, and only as one of his lesser guises as he is still a teenager. I hope you like this profile! (P.S. I do not own the Teen Titans)
Goodguy Profile:
Number 3
Name: Rachel Roth
Alias: Raven
Height: 5"7'
Strength: Medium
Intelligence: Psychic abilities
Data:
When Starfire went off on diplomatic purposes, and with Nightwing busy in Bludhaven, Rachel Roth, the successful news reporter, once again took in their son Robin Victor Garfield Roth Grayson (The Lancer). When the spirit of Trigon was defeated, her powers had diminished, but she still keeps a few tricks with her, like low telekinetics, mind reading and telepathy which is the main mode of communication between Robin and his aunt/K'norfka. She is the sensible one who uses sense and practicality to keep Robin out of trouble. Their telepathic bond helping the identity of the Lancer to remain a secret.
Although her powers are nothing like before, she can still deal with thugs easily with her kicks and fists. She can also knock out weak minded people by simply touching their heads. Her abilities, though secret, gives her an edge in her job as Jump Cities News Queen. Still single, she is occasionally seeking out the right man to fill her long career life. Robin is very persistent and thinks that she should try and ask 'uncle' Garfield Logan (Beastboy) who is a popular nature documentary host, whom he thinks likes her. But she denies it, though she always tries to look her best when he sometimes drops by to say hi.