Insaneiac: Okay…so right off the bat, here we go. I am tempted to flex my comedy wings for a wee lil bit in this, or if you fans want to, we can get this fresh and underway. I will warn you now, this story is going to be easily the darkest (yes, darker than MOB) thing I write. I will put down this chapter, and then just let me know if I should either get some laughs in, or get right to the blackness of my soul embodying itself upon the internet.

Blink: Ahem…the wanksta does not own Teen Titans, or me. I own me, mates. There, I said yah stupid disclaimers Author…where's mah beer?

…Jerk

Chapter 2: Old Friends
"BOOYA! I WIN AGAIN! YOU SUCK!" Cyborg yelled, throwing his controller down and striking a victory dance. His opponent, a very sullen and teary Starfire, could only watch as her comrade mocked her with a dance that scarred the very soul, both in it's meaning and execution.

"You are poor shipper of sportsmen Cyborg." Starfire grumbled, doing her best to sound serious. Alas, all it did was further push Cyborg's antics, sending the cocky Titan into a full out laughing fit. A disgruntled sigh escaped Raven's lips as she watched Cyborg's impression of Joker fill the entire tower. Once again, it was time for the young gothic sorceress to play mother to the sheepish alien girl and the boisterous android.

"Starfire, it's poor sportsmanship. Cyborg, you won, so what. And Beast Boy…" Raven muttered, before stopping, before everyone stopped. A long winded sigh escaped Raven's lips as she slipped up for what seemed the four hundredth time. Despite his departure roughly a year ago, his presence lingered. Like that of a father who passed away during the night, or an annoying stray animal that kept coming back for food, then suddenly disappeared. It was well enough to affect everyone, but in honesty it took the biggest toll on Cyborg, Starfire and Raven.

"I miss friend Beast Boy…" Starfire muttered. Starfire seemed to be more or less in the same boat as Raven, missing their friend. Although she missed him a whole world more than Raven appeared to. Sometimes she would even go check his room, just to see if he might not have snuck in during the night. Of course, anyone in the tower could tell you this, even without seeing it firsthand. Starfire wore her emotions on her sleeve.

Cyborg, on the other hand… "Hey, it's not my fault that he thinks he's got better friends." Cyborg had taken it very poorly, dropping any concern for the former Titan and replacing it with apprehensiveness. It was unreasonable, brutal, and most of the times, sad to watch. It was no small secret that Cyborg and Beast Boy had been the best of friends and the closest of rivals. Everything between them was a competition, and more often than not it ended with one of them showing off their victory dance. Everyone knew that Cyborg truly missed Beast Boy, way more than both Starfire and Raven. He just wouldn't admit it. "I mean, why run off with a villain!" Cyborg growled, flopping onto the couch and crossing his arms, pouting like a spoiled brat.

"Blink…He saved our lives." Starfire stuttered, recalling the events. Blink had saved Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, Terra, and every that lived on the world, though not alone. He had the assistance of both Terra and Beast boy initially, then Robin himself in the end. Of course, as typical with most of the innocent public, Robin was painted to be the hero of the day. The sole reason the Zenith Event didn't result in Armageddon as it were.

"If it wasn't for that gum flapping, show off moron in the first place, none of this would have happened!"

"You think Blink's absence from this would have stopped Slade?" Raven replied to Cyborg, eyeing him carefully.

"Rae, why are you defending him? Last I checked, HE SHOT YOU!" Cyborg yelled, waving his arms in the air. Of course, he was right, and she knew it. She knew it because, in the brief period of time after he fired and before she was hit, she felt his soul. "And I am sorry, but last I checked, attempted murder made you a criminal!"

"Then I'm fairly certain I should be in jail." A voice came from behind them. All three whipped to the dormitory hallway to see Robin, standing there. It was remarkable how well he could put on an image of strength, no matter what circumstance had occurred. Of course, while Cyborg and Starfire were impressed, it seemed to upset Raven. "And last I checked…despite the almost criminal style of dancing Cyborg displays, this isn't a jail cell." Robin said with a grin.

Cyborg's face turned from cocky to sour, as he turned away from Robin. "Harsh dude…" With that, he picked up his controller again, and turned to Starfire. "Best twenty two out of forty three?"

"On with the bringing of then!" Starfire replied, determined. Another long sigh escaped Raven's being as Robin sat down at the table she was at.

"Starfire, that saying is 'bring it on then'." Raven droned, her head resting on the table as she tried to cope. It tended to be Beast Boy who corrected Starfire on her horribly butchered versions of sayings. Her head whipped up at Robin with a death glare as she heard him chuckling. It stopped instantly, to say the least. After a few short minutes of waiting, Raven spoke again, this time quietly and to Robin. "Sleeping any better?"

His sleep patterns, especially the ones he developed recently, were something of a private matter between him and Raven. Even then, he hated talking about them. "…No."

"Nightmares still, or are you still…" She began, never completing what she was saying in fear of striking a nerve with Robin. They both knew all too well what she was referring to.

"Nightmares have…become fewer. However…" Robin whispered, sighing darkly. "However I still can't sleep without some light." He finished, rubbing his masked eyes. For a brief while, silence filled the table area of the room, obscuring the noise from Starfire and Cyborg screaming and yelling over each individual victory they achieved on their way to beating each other. "Any word from Speedy yet?"

"No…he's still doing patrol with Aqualad. Mas and Menos haven't reported in from Gotham yet either, though I doubt anything bad will happen to them as long as Batman knows that they're there." Raven replied, nodding gently. And then, as if on cue, Raven shook her head slowly. "Someone took down Tarantino…in Steel City."

Robin lit up at that, both in awe of the fact that it happened, and in slight anger that it wasn't him that did it. "One of Fallen's kingpin crime lords goes down for the count…maybe Steel City can get fixed up. Who did it?"

"It was a bounty job…other than that I can't say. No information about it." Raven replied toneless, before the two of them winced in pain.

"HA! IT is I who is laughing in your face now, friend Cyborg!" Starfire yelled, dropping the controller and going into a victory dance that could very well have justified the existence of a special section of police officers, designed to prevent dances like hers from ever existing.

With a grimace, Cyborg muttered gently. "Lucky…" However, his comment was smashed by the laughter of Robin as he watched Cyborg get a taste of his own medicine. Slowly, the room returned to normal, aside from a sulky Cyborg trying to pick up his shattered dignity in a rematch.

"I hate bounty hunters. Lowest of the low…doing jobs for money."

"Robin, they're pretty much just heroes of a different color." Raven reasoned, her voice showing the rare tinge of emotion sympathy.

"Raven, heroes defend the public regardless of their popularity, payment, or task. Bounty Hunters pick and choose, work only for money, and then hide from those that would take them down. I swear, if I ever meet the hunters that took Tarantino down, I'll show them what being a hero really means." Robin stated, as a grimace crossed his face. As if on cue, Speedy's voice came over the communicator, startling Robin out of his state of attitude.

"Hey, fearless leader? You are NOT going to believe who just decided to show up in Jump City."

"Who?" Robin asked puzzled, knowing that he'd regret finding out.

"Blink. Blink and his gang of merry men…well, merry man and woman really." With that, Robin sighed, his head landing on the table with a resounding 'thunk'. Raven couldn't help but let a small smirk slip onto her face. It was no small secret that Robin absolutely hated Blink. To him, Blink was as bad as Red X. He was a dirty little mistake that Robin had let get out of hand.

"Thank you Speedy. Where are they right now?" Robin droned, knowing full well and good that he still needed to bring him in. He committed crimes, and crimes that Robin would not allow himself to forgive until he was either locked up, or beaten to pulp. And while Robin was easily Blink's superior in hand to hand combat, the ability to teleport around the room gave Blink an incredibly large advantage.

"Don't know."

"Why not?"

"Because he saw me first…decided to put me to sleep so I couldn't follow them. He's got one hell of a right hook." Speedy replied, eliciting a long and stressed sigh from Robin. Just his luck, one of the most random and annoying characters he had ever met was running, unwatched, around in his city.

"Well find him." Robin muttered, rubbing the back of his head, and sighing angrily. With a click, the communicator disconnected, and Robin finally caught sight of Raven's smirk. "What?"

"Now you're obsessing over Blink?" Raven cracked, Robin giving her a glare of un-amusement.

"He's a bad guy Raven. I need to take him down." Robin responded, grimacing. His idea as to how to atone for past sins was to work doubly hard to make sure the demons he encountered were locked away. Sometimes this meant obsessing over past mistakes, like Blink.

"Sounds more like a personal vendetta to me Robin. Maybe you just let him be? What has he done to you as of late?" Raven reasoned, watching Robin closely. Inwardly, she found it absolutely hilarious that Robin had replaced his Slade obsession, something everyone was more than excited to see leave, with an obsession over Blink. Robin, with yet another stressed sigh, Robin departed from the room, looking more childish then annoyed.

"WHAT? Double KO!" Cyborg screamed, glaring angrily at the TV.

"That is the job of a screw!" Starfire replied, matching her friend's ire, butchering yet another quote and making herself seem once more the fool. And once more, at the table, Raven's head collided with it. Slowly, she raised her head off that wooden surface, dropping it back onto it for safe measure a few more times.

"That's 'screw job' Starfire…"

------ Blink and Crew ------

"You know, Speedy is not going to be happy, right?" Beast Boy muttered, watching Blink carefully. He was smiling like an idiot, and rightfully so. "I mean…that looked like it hurt…" Beast Boy finished, grimacing as he recalled the way their meeting went. He was certain that Speedy had lost all feeling in the left side of his face.

"You heard what he called me."

"He said 'Hey, you're Blink.'" Terra replied dryly, almost embarrassed by her brothers choice of tactics. "And I thought the point of returning to Jump City was to avoid attention anyways."

"Yah it is Terra, but he forgot the 'Amazing' before my name. How insulting can a bloke be?" Blink replied, as they made their way down a relatively deserted street. Blink had said that he knew of a place to hid, and wanted to make damn sure he got there unnoticed. If that mean knocking out members of the Teen Titans, so be it. He'd wanted to do that for a while anyways.

"Still…Speedy is going to be sure to let Robin know where we are. Or at least, where we were when we decided to give him a dose of blunt force trauma." Terra replied, stretching her arms out, and resting them behind her head. "And I'm sure Robin is going to be just giddy knowing you're back."

"Oh come on…Robin won't be angry." Blink replied, as he stopped for a moment at a split in the road. After a few seconds of thought, he turned down one path.

"Um dude, yes he will. Robin probably thinks you're the worse thing that's happened in the history of happenings!" Beast Boy exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "And trust me dude, that will earn you a spot in his special list."

"Well luckah me then, eh mates? Guess that means he'll give me a big'ol gold star next time I see the bloke then?" Blink answered back, laughing confidently. In many ways, Blink was the anti-Robin, and every time that though ran through Beast Boys head, the more he found it ironic that he had decided to follow him. "Ah, here we are then!" Blink exclaimed as he turned into an old abandoned building.

For a brief minute, both Terra and Beast Boy were speechless. Not for any good reason mind you. In fact, they were stunned by the lack of anything good. The abandoned building was empty. It was empty, dusty, and complete with the lingering smell of age. "Wow…all this for us…you shouldn't have." Terra stated, her voice the picture of sarcasm. "Why... we have a group of our very own…sixteen foot tall dust bunnies…oh joy."

"Har har Terra." Blink replied, walking into the building. Although, he did stay as far from the gigantic dust bunnies as possible. Every so often, he would tap his foot on the ground, for what could only be assumed as a descending into madness by his two friends. Finally, after a good few minutes of this, he stopped. "Here we go mates." Blink muttered, kneeling down and lifting up a secret hatch. "Hey, knocky knocky!"

"Who's there?" A voice yelled from inside, drawing a smile from Blink.

"Give me your name, and I shall give you mine." He replied, scratching his chin. Almost instantly, a man in a black, all too familiar costume shot out of the hole. Beast Boy gasped as he recognized the man, his mouth shooting open and smashing into the floor, but Blink could only smirk as he made eye contact with the masked eyes of the man.

"How's life Red?" Blink muttered, gaining a long, pained sigh from Red X.

"Blink…I should have known." Red X replied, as he disappeared back into the hole. Slowly, Blink turned to Beast Boy, whose jaw had long since dropped to the ground. Terra was, of course, completely lost in the matter, knowing not who Red X was. When Red X popped up again, this time he eyed Beast Boy. "Turning me in Blink? I thought you were on my side?"

"Don't worry, Beast Boy's with me." Blink replied, his voice steady. Although he couldn't see it, Blink knew that Red was smiling from behind his mask. The two went back, long before X ever stole his costume from Robin. Needless to say, they had history.

"Got yourself a Titan now…and I though Irony was dead." X replied, his arrogant attitude returning. "Come on in, make yourselves at home." He finished to Blink, before turning to Beast Boy. "Take anything and I'll take your hands." And with that, Red X disappeared back into the hole, leaving Blink to shoo in Terra and a stunned Beast Boy.

"Dude…how do you know Red X?"

"That, mate, is a long story, with plenty of fun parts. I'm sure he'll enjoy going over it in detail. For now, let's get out of sight mate." Blink replied, as Terra jumped into the hole. A few seconds later, Beast Boy slipped into the hole, followed closely by Blink. And just as he closed the hatch and sealed it, Speedy walked by, peering into each building for Blink.

"Where the hell could that idiot be?" Speedy muttered to himself as he passed.

------ Titan tower ------

Robin sighed as he waited in his room for a return call from Speedy. Notification, hell, even just a passing glimpse, would be enough for him. Just to have even a fleeting idea as to where he should look. If you were to look into Robin's room a year and a half ago, and compare it to his now, many would have been shocked.

There was no more Slade. No newspaper clippings or pictures. No reports or analysis of him and his abilities any long. Robin's walls were free of Slade-ism. It actually looked like Robin had finally stopped obsessing over the masked man that ruled his life for so long. However, he did have one wall that shared pictures of his biggest mistakes, with both Red X and Blink taking up the larger portions of the wall. He finished Slade, now he wanted nothing more than to fix up the few loose ends left.

"Hey, fearless leader." Speedy came through, interrupting Robin's thought process. "I've got good news and bad news."

"Bad news first."

"Can't find them. They're gone." Speedy muttered, flattening Robin out. "The good news, however, is that I can feel my face again." For a long time, Robin just sat there and breathed, seething anger into the room around him. All he needed to do to put this behind him was catch Blink, and the one time he shows up, he disappears from sight.

"Lovely…"

A/N: Woot, so that "filler" chapter is over. Yes, I will of course explain Red-X and Blink's relationship. However, before that, let me know. Want some comedy before the story gets dark as hell? And on another note, Terra, Beast Boy, Blink and Red-X (At least, Red-X is included for now) you folks got any ideas what we should call this band of merry men. Let me know your suggestions.