>Robin pushed rubble off the top of the pile so he and Starfire could climb out of the recess in the wall. Cyborg pushed himself
up, but one arm was unresponsive, which probably meant a short circuit somewhere. BeastBoy rolled across the ground as a
monkey trying to get the remains of Volt's shirt out of his teeth by pulling on it with both his hands and feet. Starfire flew over
to help Raven who had pushed herself up on her elbows. As Starfire lifted Raven up, Raven muttered, "I'm fine", but as soon
as Starfire let go, she collapsed again. Starfire barely caught her before she hit the ground.
>"Oh no! Raven, you are hurt!" Starfire cried out.
>Raven pulled herself up and floated in the air. "No, I'm really fine…I just can't feel my legs."
>Cyborg looked over from fixing his arm. "That's from the electric shocks; besides being painful they apparently act like a
stun-gun and cause temporary paralysis."
>BeastBoy shifted back to his human from and garbled out, "I ud ueth um elp 'ere!"
>Robin pulled a small knife from his belt and tugged at the cloth in Beastboy's mouth, cutting off a small piece. He put it in his
belt as he turned away.
>"Whaug?" BeastBoy choked. "Faf if?"
>"That's all I need for analysis."
>The Titans returned to the tower in a rather sullen mood; most went off to bed, except for Robin, who slipped off to examine
the piece of cloth he had obtained, and BeastBoy, who was still digging pieces of Volt's shirt out of his teeth.
>The next morning started out quite, but by 10 o'clock or so, BeastBoy and Cyborg dragged themselves to the kitchen to get
something to eat. Starfire, however, had beaten them to it, and the two male Titans were greeted with a scene of devastation
that rivaled even Johnny Rancid's frequent attempts at wholesale chaos. Dirty bowls and plates lay everywhere, the oven was
dripping a foamy green liquid, and the dishwasher was smoking.
>Starfire looked up sheepishly. "Good morning friends! I was trying to make some cakes with pans, but it is not working well."
>"That's OK", said BeastBoy, as he tried to usher the well-meaning but totally incompetent alien out of the kitchen. "You just
go sit down, I'll fix us up something good."
>"Not more tofu", Cyborg growled, "After last night we need somethin' healthy".
>"Hey, Tofu is healthy".
>"It might be (although that's questionable), but it tastes like horse-feed!"
>"Well, maybe some of us like horse-feed! "
>The two were just about to start really going at it when Robin walked in, breaking up the tension. "I've got good news and
bad news."
>Raven drifted in behind him, a steaming mug in one hand.
>Cryborg had found a not-to-stale box of donuts and was stuffing them in his mouth, but he still managed to ask Raven,
"Where'd you get something to eat?"
>"Starbucks. Now if everyone's stomachs are satisfied shall we move on to the next topic?"
>"Actually…" started Cyborg, but Robin cut him off.
>"I analyzed the material in Volt's shirt, and this is what I found." He pressed on button on the TV remote to bring up a picture
of the cloth fragment. "The fibers are a synthetic polymer, with a pentagonal outer layer and a star-like arrangements of internal
supports. After they were woven together, they were also melted slightly so they stick together, making this stuff nearly like
armor. That's how Volt was able to shrug off our attacks."
>"If that's the good news, I'd love to hear the bad", muttered BeastBoy.
>Robin continued, "The bad news is the material must be a new prototype, because it doesn't match anything I've been able to
find on the commercial market. So far it's untraceable."
>There was a brief moment of silence, until BeastBoy dropped a heavy iron skillet and startled everyone out of their thoughts.
"That's great, but I'd much prefer bad news on a full stomach."
Cyborg scrambled back into the kichen. "You'd better not be makin' more veggie tofu!"
>"And what if I am?"
>Starfire drifted over, "Please, I to would like to help, yes?"
>Robin sighed, and Raven, without a hint of a smile, said, "Glad to see everything's normal."
>A short while later, everyone sat around the table, eating a variety of more or less edible breakfast food. The Conversation
was unusually subdued because BeastBoy and Cyborg weren't speaking to each other. Cyborg instead had pulled out a large
folder and was idly flipping through it. Starfire's curiosity soon got the better of her, and she leaned over to have a look.
>"Friend Cyborg, what is it that you are reading?"
>Cyborg glanced up, slightly startled, "What?…oh, this? I got the one of the detectives at the police department to send me a
bunch of stuff from their investigation into those thefts. These are just the reports on a couple of the people from the
companies."
>Careful there, Cyborg, "You're starting to sound like Robin", quipped BeastBoy.
>Robin looked at him suspiciously, "Anything on Aaron Faserro, perhaps?"
>"Uh…" Cyborg seemed at a loss for words, but Raven, who had been leaning over from the other direction to glance at the
folder, answered for him. "Not just something, all of it, apparently."
>Cyborg frowned. "Maybe that guy just rubs me the wrong way, but I can't help feeling that we should look into him more."
>Robin nodded, "Its alright, I don't particularly like him either, besides, it might lead us to something else…uncovered anything
interesting?"
>Cyborg shook his head, "Not really, his track record is perfectly clean…he's got an interesting history, though."
>Starfire smiled gleefully, "Do not keep us in the suspense, tell us what you have found!"
>Cyrborg shuffled through part of the pile of papers until he pulled out a few handwritten sheets. Alright, here goes, I can't
guarantee its the best breakfast material, though."
>"Aaron Faserro was the first and only child of two perfectly average middle-class parents, living near Washington D.C. When
he was only three, however, both his parents died in a bombing of the government building where they worked. He lived there
until he was twelve, when it was discovered he had a rare medical condition that was too expensive for his foster family to
treat, so he was moved to a government-run orphanage. He started attracting attention when he got a high-school GED at the
age of 14. By sixteen he apparently secured his own legal custody, and moved out. He started taking night classes at a local
university, and by 18 he got degrees in neurology and computer programming. He got a job and kept studying, and over the
next three years earned degrees in everything from classical literature to nuclear physics to ancient history. He got hired as a
junior partner at Morgen Lyn Inc. when he hacked into their computer system and crashed their network by downloading 12
million copies of his application. When the former owners decided to sell the company, he manipulated the various contracts so
as to give himself a 51 share of the stock, meaning he effectively owns the entire company."
>"I don't suppose any of its been illegal?" Robin asked.
>"Nope, its all legal, if just barely in some cases."
>BeastBoy, whose attention had started to wander about halfway through Cyborg's monologue, snapped, "Great, so know
we know all the greatest gossip on the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The more important question is, who wants more
Tofu?"
>The other four Titans all suddenly murmured things about being full, and quickly excused themselves.
