The endless beeping of computers caught the attention of Victor Stone as he watched his fellow teammates file into the security room. His curiosity thickened as his eyes fell upon a cloaked figure who seemed slightly out of character as she still remained hidden by the shadow of her hood.

Dismissing his thoughts, Cyborg turned in the direction of his leader, awaiting an explanation for the sudden meeting. All was quiet as the Titans kept themselves occupied with the multiple views of their city playing overhead.

"You're probably all wondering why I ask you here so suddenly," a voice sounded from Robin's bowed head as his chin rested against his hands. His elbows dug into his thighs as his brow furrowed in heavy concentration, uncertainty and worry written carelessly over his masked face.

Silence consumed them once more, but after a few moments, Beast Boy swallowed nervously, readying his voice to speak. "So, uh, what's the deal? Cyborg and I were in the middle of a-"

"This is more important than some silly little game!"

Raven's blue eyes grew wide in shock at Robin's sudden outburst. She watched as he slammed a gloved hand against the table beside him, his mask narrowing into two fine slits, white teeth bared in utter agitation.

"Yo, Man, chill!"

"Please, friends, let us not shout the angry words at one another. We should remain calm and-"

Beast Boy let out a slight "hmph" before crossing his arms across his chest. "I would if Robin would quit acting like a jerk! Dude, if this is so important, then say something!"

Fits of yelling erupted amongst the team as Beast Boy and Robin allowed their stubborn attitudes to over take them. Cyborg and Starfire, try as they may, did nothing to calm them, and only managed to add to the level of noise in the room.

Every pitch of each voice echoed in Raven's mind as she closed her eyes, desperately trying to block it all out. Suddenly something snapped. Dark energy shot from her chakra stone, destroying the lights on the ceiling, her eyes blood red as she shouted above them all in an attempt to silence the children before her.

"Enough!"

The Titans fell into stillness as the watch Raven's blood red orbs slowly fade into sapphire and become swallowed by the over powering darkness that consumed the lightless room. An eternity seemed to pass before any Titan summed up enough courage to even blink in the presence of the aggravated empath.

Cyborg was the first to move, activating the small lamp that rose from his shoulder. The beam of white light flashed brightly into Raven's eyes before spreading throughout the room and slightly dimming. The dark girl shielded her face from the overwhelming radiance that seemingly contradicted her in ever way.

"Heh, looks like we got ourselves a light problem," the cybernetic man laughed, eyeing Raven carefully. "Don't worry about a thing, Raven, I'll get it all fixed up in no time. It's no trouble at all."

Robin let out a heavy sigh. This meeting was seemingly useless. Nothing was going as planned. The lights being out only served as a new distraction and the back haired boy wasn't about to allow such an insignificant change in the room disrupt his purpose. Clearing his throat rather loudly, the leader gained the attention of all those around him.

"We'll fix the lights later. Right now we have a few things to go over."

Starfire's bright eyes filled with confusion as she watched Robin turn his chair to face the screens once more. She walked towards him, an arm outstretched, feeling her way over to the top of his chair before stopping.

"But Robin, would it not be easier to conduct a meeting with the light form the ceiling?"

"Yeah, I'm mean it's pretty dar-"

"No," Robin stated firmly before Beast Boy had the chance to finish. "It's easier to see the computer screens without the lights anyway, so there's no point in fixing them now when we would just be turning them off."

The masked boy sighed, sorting the thoughts in his mind before speaking once again. "As you all know, I've been keeping an eye out for Slade ever since he returned earlier this week. Well, things haven't gone as easily as I had hoped. I haven't found a single trace of him! That's where you guys come in. I need your ide-"

"Man, if you can't find 'im, how are we suppose to? You know everything there is to know about this guy!"

"He's different, Cyborg, he's not the same Slade as before. Look, all I want are ideas."

Each Titan lowered their head as they lost their minds to thought, searching endlessly for an probably location their old foe could hide. Robin typed in a few commands on the keyboard before him, watching as each screen filled with a different image of Slade's previous hideout, or rather what remained of it, hoping in vain that their fire shooting enemy would rise from the ashes once more.

"Yo! What if he's in the same place he got those crazy new powers from? Hey Raven, know any heavy duty magic shops?"

Cyborg only succeeded in earning himself a deathly glare, but Robin, on the other hand, took the half-machine's words into consideration as he tapped his index finger idly against his chin as if it would somehow allow him to think better.

"Slade was never a guy for magic. He used more of a scientific approach if anything. It just seems odd that he would, all of a sudden, go out and learn this new fire technique. It's not like him," the young leader thought aloud.

"Perhaps it is not Slade who decided to learn such spells. What if he is working for this master of fire?"

"Not likely, Star," Robin stated plainly. "If he's capable of surviving the immense heat of falling into a pit of lava, then I doubt he's in any need of a partnership."

"But what if he did not survive?" Starfire's eyes searched each of her companions'. Finding only curiosity in each gleaming orb, she pressed onward with her new found idea. "On my planet, there is a legend. After Glortex, the great enemy of Tamaran, was defeated, he was sentenced to death on our sun and was sent on a space craft to his very painful death. They say that two years after this occurred, Glortex returned to Tamaran with a great new power. He attacked the people and unleashed what is called the Blotnus Gorbus. It caused half of Tamaran to burn down. To stop Glortex, the Grand Ruler of Tamaran took up a knife and stabbed the evil man in his black heart. Glortex only laughed saying that he had sold his soul to the Zicma and could never die again. In the end, the Zicma betrayed Glortex, and the traitor was banished to what you know as the fiery afterlife."

Silence, once more, consumed the Titans as Starfire's strange myth echoed against the walls. All but Raven seemed to be lost in thought. Even Beast Boy had managed to remain serious as he put his mind to use, trying desperately to decipher the puzzle that had poured from the alien's lips.

"So you're sayin' you think Slade sold his soul to the Debil, got fire shootin' power in return, and then came back to Earth to stalk Raven?"

Sapphire eyes locked onto the metal man as his sudden outburst called out her name. An unfamiliar pain plagued the blue shadow with a sharp quickness. Her frail body shook as she clutched her right hand to her chest, stumbling backward. Raven inhaled deeply, steadying herself, thankful for having been cast in shadow and gone unnoticed.

"That seems a bit off the all, but then again, if Slade did die, then I'm sure he'd do anything to come back and realize his sick dream of world domination, even if it did mean losing his soul. Now that I think about it, there could be some truth to Star's idea. I mean, I broke his neck in four places and yet, he was able to easily snap everything back into place. That fact alone is enough to make me think he-"

"He's a zombie!"

Robin laughed slightly, shaking his head at his green companion. "Maybe, but that still doesn't tell us where he could be hiding."

"Dude! What if Slade isn't even in the city! He could be like Brother Blood and have this really cool, high-tech, top secret, underwater hideout!"

"Don't be an idiot!" Raven snapped. "If Slade really is a wielder of true fire, then he should know that water is the only element capable of fully extinguishing him. Why would he want to hide in some place where, if he was ever found, he would be at a total disadvantage?"

"Geez! It was just an idea."

Raven's anger diminished, her eyes softening as she gazed into his emerald pools. "Well, you could be right about one thing. What if Slade really isn't in the city? What better way is there to keep out of sight than to move to a place where we don't have surveillance cameras? He knows we can watch his every move in Jump City."

"That's true, but there are millions of cities to choose from. Which one would he pick?" Robin called out in desperation.

"The one place he knows that this team wouldn't even think of going to."

The black haired boy's face filled with an internal pain as he took a deep breath, exhaling a word that sent shivers down his spine: "Gotham."

Before any Titan could allow the thought to fully sink in, a familiar alarm sounded to the rhythm of flashing red lights that blanketed the tower in words of trouble.