Aaron turned and began to walk, slowly, towards the main entrance, indicating that they should follow.

Robin said, "Okay, first question. When-"

Suddenly Beast Boy cut in "How old are you anyway? 'Cause you look really young."

Aaron turned his gaze towards Beast Boy without answering, as Beast Boy's chatter turned to stuttering. "Y'know...its just that you um, don't usually...that is...normally...um, well, you're running your own company." Beast Boy trailed off into silence

Aaron stayed quiet a moment longer before replying, "I'm 26. I was an employee for this company when its previous owner who was also its founder retired, and he left it to me. If all you wanted was my business history I could have had my secretary send you our company's brochure."

"No, as a matter of fact we do have more important questions," stated Robin, who was also glaring a Beast Boy. "Like where you were on the night of the break in at HAL electronics."

By now they were next to the entrance, and Aaron pushed a small panel in the wall. The panel popped open and several glasses slid out on a tray. He handed one to Robin, and drank what was in another one himself. He then replied, "I really hope you not considering that I was the one who stole those computer chips. I'm a business man, not a common criminal."

"Still, it was your company that supplied the security, and all the evidence so far points to an inside job."

Aaron considered this for a moment, and then nodded. "That, however, is impossible. But you don't have to take my word for it, I'll show you." Aaron continued to talk as he stepped behind a partition to change. "The first thing to understand is that this company is not just a security firm. That branch, while decently profitable, is also newest edition to a corporation that deals in quite a number of international functions." Aaron stepped back around the partition, now wearing navy blue slacks, a gray jacket, and a tie.

The group left the room, and headed down a corridor to an elevator. As they rode the elevator up, Aaron explained the security systems. "The original framework and computer programs were developed by myself and three others. Soon after the program was up and running, however, one guy dropped dead of a heart attack and another had one to many drinks at the bar before trying to drive himself home on the freeway. The third guy, Damien, was a little...unbalanced...to begin with, and he really started losing it. He would go on and on about "living life to the fullest" and "never experiencing everything life had to offer". The last time I heard from him he was readying his second attempt to climb Mt. Everest. Anyway, when we were writing the program we didn't trust each other, so we each worked separately, and only shared information when we debugged the system. I only understand about a third of the system."

The elevator stopped and the four stepped out into a carpeted foyer. Several doors led away, but Aaron headed towards the one straight ahead. He pushed the door open, and the Titans stepped through a little hesitantly, unsure of what to expect. They were on a raised dais, overlooking dozens of desks filled with men and women working at desks and on computers. A few of the nearer ones glanced up, but most continued typing, writing, or rushing about. "Each of these people is overseeing a portion of a different security system. Unlike most computer programs, this one is manually checked, making immune to viruses and hacking. Each system is scanned in its entirety every 6 minutes."

"Six minutes is a lot more time than the thief used last night." Commented Robin.

Aaron looked annoyed, like he was explaining something to a young child. "You don't understand. Some part or parts of the system are being checked constantly, a problem anywhere should have sent up warning flags."

"So why didn't it?" questioned Beast Boy.

"If we knew that, I wouldn't have my entire staff in here working overtime checking out the system."

"I still don't see what makes this particularly different from other security programs", said Cyborg.

Aaron thought for a moment, and then replied, "This is the smallest of the three nerve centers for our operating system, with the other two being in Asia. Each person at a computer gets a piece of a security system to check, without knowing what specific system out of the 56 facilities we operate on. He or she may run through what looks like a single complete system, but it may actually be many different systems. It may also use the same check on two different systems, or it could be only a simulation. Just to be on the safe side, I also have 16 operatives on plains or trains traveling around the world, with a random connection awaiting them upon arrival. To hack into their computers, you'd have to be within 20 feet of their wireless transmitters. All the randomization makes it impossible to get into a single system long enough to do any damage, and if some one did manage to change something, it would simply reset at the next check."

Robin said, "It all seems like it would be very expensive to run this operation. Your company hasn't had problems with money, has it?"

Aaron smiled slightly, as if at some private joke. "While I'm standing hear talking to you, I'm making $400 an hour. When I go home and go to bed, I'll still be making $400 an hour. I'll make it when I eat, when I travel, even when I go on vacation. If the company was in financial trouble, do you think I would be making that much money? And since I market this system why would I go out of my way to disprove its effectiveness? I know what your doing; your looking for motive. You still think I'm a criminal."

Robin glared at him and said, "Yes, especially since you weren't very forthcoming with the police."

Aaron frowned. "If I let the police in here they'd insist on poking around in every closet and office, and they'd want me to supply them with guides so wouldn't miss anything. They bother my employees, they're rude, and they probably cordon off sections of the building for "special attention" and let them sit there for months. The police would cause more problems than the criminals hacking my system!" Aaron's face was flushed, and he took a deep breath to calm himself. "If you still don't believe me, I'll show you whatever you want. Just pick any random corridor, and we'll check all the offices to make sure I'm not packaging drugs or laundering money." The sarcasm was heavy in his voice.

No, that won't be necessary," answered Robin politely, "but there is one other thing we could use."

"What?"

"A copy of the security program."

Aaron didn't reply. He didn't say anything. He just stood there, unmoving.

Cyborg leaned towards him. "Yo, did you hear us? Are you listening?"

Aaron nodded. "I heard what he said, but I don't think you know what you're asking. This program is worth millions, and protects some of the most dangerous and expensive stuff on the planet. If my competitors or enemies get a hold of it suicide would start looking very attractive."

Robin replied "Were not going to make it public or anything; we'd keep it amongst ourselves."

"What would I say to my investors if they found out I've been giving away free copies?"

"Tell them we're helping debug the system. If we spot anything in the program that is a weakness, we'll tell you."

"I must be in a generous mood today; I'm willing to make another deal. Since the main security program is very complicated I doubt you'd learn anything useful anyway. I can, however, give you a demo version, which is essentially a 'read only' copy of the system for this building."

"You said you'd make a deal," stated Robin. "What do you want from us?"

Aaron smiled, slightly, "There is one other security system in the city that I believe rivals mine."

"I don't think I like were this is going," said Cyborg.

Ignoring him, Aaron continued, "In exchange I want a copy of the security system in Titan Tower."

"No way!" shouted Cyborg. "Not a chance"

"Are you nuts?!" yelled Beast Boy, "There's people who would kill for that information, literally."

Aaron just looked bored. "Ever hear of corporate espionage? All you guys have to deal with are psychos with superpowers. I deal with the richest psychos on the planet; they're the people with the money to hire the villains you fight. And one other interesting piece of information; for the last three decades, the average number of assassination attempts on the life of a CEO of a major corporation has been nearly double that made on the President."

"Alright," consented Robin, "You can take care of yourself, but what about our security system?"

Aaron spread his hands disarmingly, "As long as my security system remains entirely in your control, and no one knows about it, I can guarantee the same for yours."

Robin nodded. "Fine, it's a deal."

Aaron smiled, broadly this time. "Excellent. Gentlemen if you would follow me this way, please." He walked back to the elevator.

As Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg returned to the tower, Robin could feel himself stiffening up slightly, and bruises were beginning to make themselves known. He only took slight satisfaction in hoping Aaron was feeling the same way.

When they stepped off the elevator, Raven, who was sitting on the couch, reading, spotted them. "Were have you three been? And what happened to Robin?" she asked, noticing a black eye forming around the edge of his mask.

"Robin got beat-up by a guy in a business suit" chuckled Beast Boy.

"Maybe you wanna start a little farther back?"

"Well, we got went off to find out about this break in last night, and on our ay there we stopped at a computer store so Cyborg could find dome info on our guy and...wait! I forgot to stop and get a copy of my game!" Beast Boys dashed off shouting, "Gotta call the store gotta reserve a copy!"

Raven's expression didn't change, but she still managed to look quizzical. "OK...some one else want to explain things?"

Cyborg held up the disk Aaron had given them. "I wanna get started looking over this."

In the background Beast Boy was shouting into a phone. "How can you be out?! There were three-hundred copies this morning?! What about the waiting list? ... ITS HOW LONG?!"

Robin nodded. "Fine, I can explain...but where's Starfire, she may want to hear this, too?"

Starfire flew out of the kitchen, holding a tray with several brown, crumbly circles on it. "Glorious! I have finally perfected an Earth recipe! Will you try some?" She offered the tray to Robin. "Um, ok, the cookies look good, Star."

Starfire seemed upset, "It is supposed to be eggplant parmesean."

Robin cringed, "Maybe Raven would like to try-"

Raven shook her head. "Not me, I'm on a diet."