Ok, here are standard disclaimers. I do not own, nor claim to own any rights to the Teen Titans, or any other borrowed characters. I also make no claims towards any original characters I invent for this story.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Raven, wake up."

The gray sorceress slowly opened her eyes as the cobwebs of her deep sleep slowly vanished. As the world around her came into focus she saw his emerald orbs looking down at her. She smiled softly at him.

"Is it time already?" She mumbled.

"It's been three hours and your meal arrived. I can keep it warm if you want to sleep some more."

She shook her head.

"No, I need to get up." She replied as she sat up in the bed. Beast Boy placed a tray with legs over her lap and she began to eat immediately, scarfing down the tray's contents.

"You weren't joking when you said you'd be really hungry. How do you feel?"

"Tired." She replied between mouthfuls. "But I already feel better. I had forgotten how much I like Azarathian food.

"It looks like Earth food to me."

"I know, but it's different. This looks like rice, but it's not. And the sauce, I've never tasted anything like it on Earth. The meat looks like chicken, but it's a local bird, it has a richer taste than chicken …"

Raven then noticed the stern look on her mate's face.

"Sorry, I know you promised to never get on my case for eating meat and that I wouldn't talk about it with you."

"You know how I feel about it." He replied.

"Yes, to you it's like I'm eating a baby. I respect that you feel that way Gar, you know that."

"And I respect your choice as well."

Raven decided to change the subject.

"So what happened while I was asleep?"

Beast Boy pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Well, for starters about half the town ran away, you should see what the bus depot looks like. There're multiple busses flying out every few minutes. Salamandron closed its doors to refugees but other places are still welcoming refugees. Cyborg says that at this pace the city will be deserted in a few hours."

"What about the Matriarchs, have they tried to contact us?"

He nodded. Your pal Nara just called and said that they would like to negotiate and that they would call back in two more hours to discuss terms. She said that they've also called for a cease fire. Roth Security checked it out and it's true. The Chamber of Deputies isn't surrounded anymore and they're released everyone they arrested."

Raven beamed at her green husband.

"We won Gar, we did it. And almost no one got hurt." She exclaimed in a relieved voice as she leaned back into the mountain of pillows behind her. Beast Boy removed the now empty tray.

"So what do we do now Rae? We have two hours to kill before they call back."

"I think we should celebrate." She replied in her monotone.

The changeling walked to the door.

"I'll tell the others to get a party ready. Star's gonna love …"

The green Titan found himself enveloped in Raven's chilly dark energy and gently floated back to the bed, where she gently deposited him next to her. She then gestured with her hand and the sound of the door being locked was heard.

"I had something else in mind Gar, at least for right now." She purred in her deep gravelly voice. Beast Boy could feel the hairs stand on the back of his neck as she pulled off the top of his Doom Patrol costume. He gave her a lustful smile.

"I love you Rae."

She replied with an expressionless poker face.

"Talk is cheap Gar, what do intend to do prove to me that's true?" She replied with a hint of a smile.

Sometimes he just couldn't believe how lucky he was.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nara sat in her office, impatiently drumming her fingers on the exotic wood desk in her office. She had inherited the position of Chief of Security from her late mother. After dealing with Raven she was determined to track down this so called Terra Markov and teach her that no one messes with the Matriarchs, no one.

He brooding was interrupted by her intercom which buzzed itself to life. She then heard her aide and receptionist's voice.

"Ragithra is here Mistress. She has three aliens with her … one of them is male."

"Send them in, and don't allow anyone to interrupt us, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Mistress."

The heavy wooden door opened and the statuesque Ragithra, an alien from a world of Amazon like women, standing 6 and half feet tall entered. She was followed by another woman who was almost as tall as her as well as a much shorter woman and a man who was about 6 feet tall.

"No one is to know about this meeting Neely. There is to be no record of it."

"Yes Mistress, I understand. If any asks for you I will tell them you are away." She replied as she closed the door behind her.

Nara sized up the three Earthlings. The male was familiar to her as she had personally gone over his dossier before contacting him on Earth. The other two were unknowns. She turned to Slade.

"You are unusually tall for an Earth female."

Slade weighed his options. He could persist in his deception and risk getting caught. Instead he reached inside his cloak, keeping his holoring out of view and deactivated it, revealing his true persona.

"You will forgive me for the disguise. It simplified my entry into your realm."

Nara nodded.

"It is understandable … Slade Wilson. Normally your deception would not go unpunished … but these are not normal times. From what I read in your dossier you have a long running grudge with Raven and her band of Earthly superheroes. Since you may be very useful to me I will overlook this indiscretion. But before we get past the pleasantries, would you mind introducing me to your companion?"

Terra felt a mild wave of panic course through her body. She knew that there was a price on her head, a very big one. If Nara found out who she really was, the one responsible for her mother's death, things would get ugly and fast. She would have to put her trust in Slade and his state of the art holorings.

"This is my current apprentice, Lisa Ashmore."

Nara brought Slade's dossier up on her computer screen and quickly glanced at it.

"You wouldn't happen to know a certain Terra Markov, would you Wilson? Or do you prefer to be called Deathstroke?"

"Just call me Slade your Excellence. As for Miss Markov, she is a business associate of mine back on Earth. She has an unhealthy obsession with the green changeling and she vanished a few days ago. I believe she is still in Azarath, stalking Raven and Beast Boy. Locating her is a secondary objective of my mission here; the primary objective of course is to serve the Council."

Nara eyed Terra carefully. Slade's holoring worked its charm and the young Matriarch was unable to discern that the woman who stood before her was Terra Markov.

"Tell me about your skills Miss Ashmore."

Terra gathered herself, now relieved that she had not been exposed.

"Slade has trained me in most of Earth's martial arts and a few alien ones as well. I am also trained by Slade in the use of combat weaponry and military strategy and tactics."

"She is deadly and efficient your Excellence. I brought her with me for this very reason."

Nara noticed that Deadshot had a smug look on his face.

"Is there something you wish to share with us, assassin?" Nara asked.

Slade and Terra wondered if the marksman would expose Terra.

"I just think you're wasting your time with them. Slade has never been able to defeat the Titans."

"Don't underestimate them." Terra growled. "They aren't a bunch of clueless politicians or billionaires. They aren't your usual targets."

Nara cleared her throat.

"Speaking of which, we need to discuss the terms of how you will dispose of them."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The mood in the huge living room of Raven's apartment was jubilant. Starfire had taken it upon herself to organize the celebration and after summoning Tower staff the room was decorated. There was a cake, food and beverages for the celebration. All that was missing was Raven and Beast Boy.

Cyborg was drooling, as the food smelled good and his stomach began to rumble in anticipation. He reached for one of the platters and was surprised when an orange hand slapped him on the wrist, which he instinctively withdrew.

"Star! Why'd you do that for?"

The Tamaranian crossed her arms and frowned at the tin man.

"We may not proceed with the celebration until the guests of honor are present!"

"Guests of honor? You mean Raven and BB?"

"That is correct Cyborg, on Tamaran to do so is considered an insult to them."

"Oh c'mon Star. This isn't Tamaran."

"That is correct friend, but I am the hostess."

Cyborg sighed and his stomach voiced its displeasure with having to wait with a loud growl.

"They've been locked in their room for an hour … this is stupid … I'm gonna get them before the food gets cold." He said as he charged at their door, ready to rap on it.

The tin man felt a titanium like grip on his hand, which yanked him back with a jerk.

"You will do no such thing." Starfire growled.

"I won't? Why?"

The Tamaranian rolled her eyes.

"Is it not obvious friend?"

"Uh … no."

"They are engaging in conjugal relations."

"Conju what?" He asked before becoming wide eyed.

"No way! I mean how would you even know?"

The princess shook her head dismissively.

"Trust me, I know."

As if on cue, the door slid open and the Roths/Logans emerged from their room. They both had a content look on their faces and their body language indicated that they were relaxed. Cyborg began to use the different sensors built into his artificial eye to examine them.

He noticed that their body temperatures were slightly elevated and their heart rates were higher than normal. He then scanned their exposed skin and found residues of soap and moisture.

"So they showered." He muttered under his breath as he felt a powerful hand slap him on the back side of his head.

"I know what you are doing. You will stop and respect their privacy." The princess growled.

"You're no fun." Cyborg complained.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nara cleared her throat.

"Speaking of which, we need to discuss the terms of how you will dispose of them."

"I have my techniques" Deadshot replied. "You just tell me who and I will take care of them."

"That is not what I meant." Nara replied. "I'm going to deliver them to you so that you may terminate them, all of them."

"All of them?" Terra asked. "Wouldn't Raven be enough?"

"All of them. 100,000 gold pieces if you succeed. I expect you to work as a team and you can divide the bounty as you see fit, but you will only be paid if all 5 Titans are eliminated."

"But why?" The disguised Geomancer replied. "Raven is the head of the movement. Killing all 5 of them will be … harder. Is it really necessary?"

"It is. If any of them survive our authority will remain challenged. Sparing any of them is not an option. Only once the Matriarchs of imposed their authority and reestablish control will the citizenry return."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OK, a quick chapter just so you know I'm not neglecting you.

Terra is in pickle isn't she? Nara wants BB dead.

Mailbag time:

GreenRock - "With so many assassains aiming to take out all the Titans, it's a wonder how those five are going to get back to Earth unscathed. Also, because of that spoiler at the end, it ahs thrown question marks as to who Deadshot is going to eliminate (so to speak)."

Well, we now know that Nara has her own agenda.

hot dog285 - "well, I had a funny feeling that was going to happen, now the question is, "how many pieces will he be in after he gets caught?" my money is on at least seven"

Maybe I should start a pool.

The Cretin - "It's cool that Deadshot's in this story. On another note, I think you've set the stage for some major chaos. I like that. Chaos is good. This story really always got me wondering about social issues. I wanna hate the matriarchs for how they treat BB and men in general. At the same time I imagine that they only do what they feel they must. Kudos on writing this. If you were to ever enter the realm of sci-fi professionaly then I think you would do really well."

Nah, I'm just a hack.

titanfan45 - "Nara seems determined to sign her own death warrant. The Titans are going to have their hands full with the 3 assassins from earth."

She's definitely up to something.

bordom-kills - "haha dude your last to updates have been great and deathstoke with dead shoot dude you jus made things insanely dificult for the titans cant wait to see how they get themselves out of this one xD"

And to make things worse, Nara is up to no good. The Matriarchs are willing to surrender, but she isn't.

AkumaKami64 - "So the Council is smarter than I originally thought. I'll be honest, I'm dieing at this point for BB to do SOMETHING to make the Azarathians crap themselves. Hmm, Beast is going to come out before this is over, isn't he?

You're concidering writing an Evil BB! Sweet!

Deathshot will kill...Arella? "

I ain't telling!

gamehead64 - "it didn't hit me until I read some comics but cy and bb have this father/son bigbro/littlebro relationship. CY is usually there 4 bb whenever a problems come EXAMPLE bb tells cy his recent disaster with raven and cy tells him if it was easy would it be worth it. later on cy is attacked and almost killed by vigilante? bb nearly tramples raven 2 get vigilante and nearly kills him. It is a nice change 2 see cy confide in bb for once although I'd hate 2 see what would happen to the SOB that kills vic while garfield is around"

Intrigue is in the air.

Hairul The Nightrage Beast - "Finally an update, so things just gets more interesting with Deadshot, Terra and Slade in the foray, and yeah prolly quote from the movie Salieri on Raven and Nara "From Now On, We're Enemies, You and I." from the intro of Children Of Bodom's Warheart."

Terra is in a difficult spot, the line between enemies and friends becomes blurry.

Primu - "Finally ! though I have a feeling that those mercenaries are not going to be very happy with Council decision..."

They got paid off.

FelynxTiger - "i thought the council was going to be defeat it just like that buut Nara will totally nake things more interesting!

i like the small conversation that cy and gar had XD i think all men is wondering that :p

see u next ch."

Its kind of fun to make BB the "worldly" Titan.