"It's almost finished, B.B.," Cyborg said, wiping grease off of his metallic hands, "all I need is a couple of parts, and it is ready to hit the streets."

"I can't wait, I'm dying of anticipation," he replied, the elevator door closing behind him.

The elevator came to life, going up from the garage area, promptly stopping at the top floor, the entrance hallway to the central room of the Tower. The doors dinged open, the lights that lined the corridor were dimmed down low, almost off.

"Hmm," Cyborg stated, thinking, "I need to run a check on the power grid, maybe we are pulling too much juice for the Tower's generator."

"That isn't it," Beast Boy informed, a hint of curiosity in his voice, "come on, I'll show you."

"Show me what?" Cyborg questoined, running his hand across his polished head.

He didn't say anything, sneaking up to the doors of the central room, Cyborg tiptoeing behind him. He quietly opened the doors manually with his hands, attempting to not make a noise. Beast Boy shape shifted into a mouse, scurrying across the floor of the central room, right up behind he semi-circle couch. Cyborg activated his long-rage sensors as he snuck in, hiding behind the dishwasher in the kitchen. He widened his eyes with suprise at what he heard in the nearly pitch-black room.

"Oooo, Robin," Starfire's voice said seductively, adding a small giggle at the end.

Beast Boy turned back into his normal state behind the couch, shocked at what he saw. He saw Robin and Starfire, her on top of him. Apparently, he had walked in on them in a make-out session. Robin opened one of his eyes, seeing Beast Boy's sillouete above him, behind the couch. Robin quickly pushed Starfire off, her landing in the floor, jumping up off of the couch.

"What's going on here?" Beast Boy asked naievely, just wanting to tick Robin off, who was already embarassed to no extent.

"You know what's going on," Robin replied, embarassed and enraged at the same time.

"Why did you do that Ro-" Starfire questioned, rising to her feet, only to see Beast Boy as well. "Oh, hello friend Beast Boy, how are you doing today?" she questioned, equally embarassed as Robin, cracking a smile in order to throw him off.

"I am doing fine, Star, but it appears that you are doing, well, more than fine?" Beast Boy said, stifiling his laughter.

"I was, Robin and I were engaging in the out o-" Robin's gloved hand covered her mouth to stop her from finishing what she was saying.

"You saw it, nothing to explain," he said, attempting to get them off of the subject, he looked over B.B.'s shoulder, seeing a small satellite dish sticking up above the dishwasher. "And you can come out now."

Cyborg stood up, putting his scanner away with a smile. He walked over to the wall switch for the lights, turning them back on and opening the blinds to the massive windows, allowing it to look as it should around midday.

"Now, since we are past that little episode," Cyborg began, "back to serious business, we need to find out as much possible as we can about Slade's new apprentice, I mean, she wiped the floor with us, and I feel as if she wasn't even trying."

Robin ran his gloved hand down his face out of despiration, tired of hearing about the subject for the past day, well, since this morning anyways, that is what Cyborg started the morning off with.

"I went over the footage recovered from the discs, both the Wanye Industries and the power plant's, and all I can make of it is that she is exactly like Slade in every way," Robin informed, his blush going away, "we need to fight smarter, not harder."

"You're probably right, Robin," Beast Boy added, "but if she is for real, we really need to come up with a good plan before she strikes again, so far she has stolen a flux capacitator or whatever it is called and a tube of liquid Xenothium, enough to deal substantial damage to just about anything. Who knows what she's going to steal next."

"That's why I have altered today's combat practice," Robin informed, "I studied the tactics she used, so we are going to train to counter against them."

"We run into her again, she is going to go down, hard," Cyborg promised, pumping his fist into his palm.

Raven squinted in the sunlight as she walked across the grounds of Slade's estate, not being able to see the sun for quite some time, it was rather invigorating to her. The wide walkway led from the secret entrance to Slade's lair up to a lavish home, easily visible from their location. She continued behind him, remaining silent, keeping pace with him.

"So what's so special about this that allows me to be present?" she finally questioned about half way there.

"You are the guest of honor, child," Slade informed pleased, "my associates are wanting to meet my apprentice face-to-face, especially after hearing about the thrashing that you gave the Titans."

"You mean all of your business goons that are going to help you take over the city?" She retorted, basically refraising what he just said.

"I suppose," Slade replied, not phased one bit, used to her quips.

They made their way up the grand entrance to the home in front, large, extravegant doors embellishing the facade of the house, making it gleam in the late afternoon light. Wintergreen was at the door, holding it open for Slade and his companion.

"Thank you, Wintergreen," Slade beckoned as he had many times before, Wintergreen only nodding to the statement.

Raven nodded to him as well, keeping to herself for the most part.

"What do you think?" he questioned, allowing her to take in the sights of what seemed to be the home of a millioinare.

"It is...nice," she stated, not really caring for it, but impressed by the way Slade lived. "If he has such a good life, then why is he doing what he is doing?" She thought, following him wherever he went.

"I have an outfit for you to wear, Raven, it belonged to my daughter Rose, you and her are about the same size, so it should fit quite nicely," Slade informed, walking up the grand staircase, Raven in tow.

"What kind of outfit?" she questioned, cocking her eyebrow.

"Why, a dress, of course," he flatly stated, motioning for her to go into the open doorway at the top of the stairs

Raven stopped as soon as she topped the stairs, seeing the black dress hanging in the room.

"Go on," Slade encouraged, "They will be here in only a little while."

"You may force me to do a lot of things, Slade," Raven began coolly," but I will never, ever, wear a dress, I have a strict rule when it comes to them."

Slade rolled his eye.

"Raven, we haven't the time for this, now go put it on," he instructed, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I said no," Raven replied, doing the same thing, turning her nose up.

"Put it on," Slade's voice becoming aggrivated.

Raven said nothing, turning her back to him. Her face filled with suprise as she felt his large, cold hand grasp her head, his masked face coming up next to her's.

"You will put it on and you will like it," he warned, "I don't have time for this immaturity from you, so I really do suggest that you do as I say."

He lifted his head up, Raven feeling the tension in his hand tightening its grip. Slade pulled her head back sharply, forcing her to stumble into the room, falling on her back. By the time she rose up and figured out what had just happened, the door was shut violently, even hearing the tumblers in the lock engaging.

"I won't let you out until you are in that dress, Raven," Slade stated, not amused by her current actions.

She looked at the window.

"One more thing, child," he added, "if you so much as go near the window, I will engage the gas to the Tower."

Raven quickly shook the notion from her head, her mind torn between the two worlds that inhabited it, the one she lived, and the one that she wanted to return to. Part of her wanted Slade to push that button, just so she would only have his accompanyment in the world, but part of her wanted him dead as well so she could return to what she once loved. She picked the dress up off of its hanging position, eyeballing it. Her gentle hand caressed it as she ran it down the smooth, silky texture. A knock came from the door, startling her.

"Are you ready yet?" Slade's muffled voice from behind the heavy door was heard, annoyance dipping from his words.

"Would you calm down for a minute?" she snapped back, "I'll knock to let me out when I'm done, until then, leave me alone."

She heard the sound of him scoffing, along with a couple footsteps in the direction away from the door. Raven diverted her attention back to the dress, seeing that it was all nearly all black, only a sash of some kind with tassels changed color, that of which being a dark blue, matching her former cape. It was strapless, allowing the bearer of it to have exposed shoulders, and the back of it was extremely low, nearly dangerously low, her back exposed all the way to her lower torso.

"Who would wear this?" she commented to herself in a whipser.

She heard his footsteps outside beginning to pace about.

"Might as well get this over with," Raven thought, beginning the undressing process as she undid her cape, allowing it flutter to the floor.

After getting undressed and searching through the many dresser drawers in the room for a strapless bra, she finally donned the dress, easily sliding into it as it took snug hold of her curves of her toned body. The exposed back and shoulders showed nicely with her muscles protruding only enough to be visible, giving her a very stunning physique. She also found the black dress shoes taht went along with the dress itself, black, but the design resembling something Starfire would wear in her opinion. She awkwardly took several steps forward, getting a feel as to how she should attempt the feat of walking in the heeled shoes. Raven raised her hand, gently knocking on the door, Slade's heavy footsteps growing closer and closer to the door. She heard the lock undo and the handle turn, coming open. He stood there, surveying his apprentice in her formal attire.

"My, My, how you have grown up since the first time I ever saw you," he commented, "you really are developing into quite the beautiful young woman, Raven."

"Umm...Thank You?" she managed, confused and not used to recieveing a complement from anyone, especially Slade.

"Wintergreen will be attending to your other needs while I prepare for the evening," he informed, his faithful butler coming up the stairs as he walked down the hallway.

"Ok," she replied, turning to the butler, "so what exactly is it that you are going to do?"

"Mister Wilson has informed me to do your hair and whatnot, seeing how he always had me do Rose's in the past when she was younger," Wintergreen informed bluntly.

Raven shrugged her shoulders, following Wintergreen to wherever it was he was going to be performing the desired tasks.

"I think Robin is off his rocker," B.B. whispered into Cyborg's ear as he leaned down to his level.

The training for the day didn't involve the usualy obstacle course or sparring, but what appeared to be a single robot, not imitating anything that they have every trained with before. Standing about as tall as Robin, humanoid in structure, having a single red eye was the only distinguishing factor on it that seperated in from a human.

"Why do you say that? I built it." Cyborg whispered back, watching Starfire "ooh" and "aah" over it as she studied it.

"It just looks really creepy, that's all," he informed bluntly.

Robin walked into view, holding a single disc in his hand, walking up to the inactive robot.

"When I put this disc in, it should activate, correct?" Robin asked Cyborg, who nodded "yes".

He did so, the disc disappearing into the robot's chest cavity, the red light shimmering to life.

"Initiating scan, threats detected," the robot said out loud, "action: termination."

The robot leaped at Cyborg and B.B., easily shoving Starfire out of the way.

"This isn't going to end well," B.B. commented out loud, attempting to get out the way of the rampaging machine.

"I think I'm gonna have to agree on that with you as well," Cyborg managed, readying himself to dodge and counter his creation's attack.

Raven stood there, examining herself in a mirror that Wintergreen held in front of her visage. She turned her head to either side, taking in the marvelous work that he had done on her hair, even though it wasn't much. Her hair was slightly longer than usual, allowing him to curl up the ends enough to make it look stunning and also applying some kind of conditioner that seemed to make it radiate with a healthy shine.

"I'm very impressed, Wintergreen, thank you," she said, respecting his amazing work.

"It was my honor, child," he coolly replied, "Your father awaits you."

Raven was caught off-guard when she heard him refer to Slade in that manner, but went along with it.

"Where is he anyways?" She questioned, forgetting about his remark, following Wintergreen out of the room and into the grand hallway, awaiting at the top of the staircase.

"He should be coming any moment, his audience will be hear soon, so it won't be long," Wintergreen informed, continuing down the stairs, leaving her standing atop them. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to prepare the culinary delights."

Raven obeyed, not wanting to get into any trouble, knowing good and well she couldn't do anything about it, especially while wearing a dress. She didn't like it one bit, still getting used to the idea. After several more minutes of standing there, waiting, she heard the faint noise of a door being closed and footsteps could be heard coming her way from the darkness. Raven squinted her eyes to see the figure, Slade's figure, but to her it appeared that he was still wearing his mask at such a distance, her curiosity draining away fast, but as he grew closer, it picked up once more, seeing the details, such as a hairline. He stepped into the light of the hallway, Raven's face full of suprise. She saw a man, an older man, hardened, his eye, which was still as penetrating as ever, made him that much more intimidating, but the other, to her suprise, was covered by an eye patch. His white hair was feathered back, a goatee matching in color. Her thoughts were correct, she knew that he would be a little older, but not as much as he appeared to be. He was straightening the bowtie on his black tuxedo, turning his attention to Raven.

"What's the matter?" he questioned, his voice not sounding as harsh as it did under the mask, "you seem to be quite shocked."

Raven shook her head, preparing her self to say something.

"It's just that, well, you know," she attempted, pointing to her face.

"Oh," Slade caught on, out of amusement of course, knowing that she would be suprised, "No sense in keeping my face from my associates, especially from my apprentice, now that wouldn't be very respectful, now would it?"

"I suppose," Raven managed, still in shock, "you just seem..."

"Old?" Slade finished her sentence for her, "to an extent, you are correct, as I have said, I have been around for quite a while child, I had children and watched all of them grow up, so, yes, I am."

"No, I wasn't going to say that," Raven snapped into focus, "your face is just so...unexpecting."

Slade's eyebrows gave off the a confused expression.

"What makes you say that?" he questioned, adjusting his cufflinks.

"When you wear the mask, you are able to express your emotions just by how your eye appears, but without it, you just seem, well, normal, I mean you are a person, you appear to be just like someone else, what makes you do what you do?" She continued to question.

"My personal business and life is none of your concern, apprentice," Slade's smooth voice suddenly becoming jagged, "I am trying to show how much I trust you by doing this and allowing you to be present, so I suggest that you show me a little respect."

Raven turned her head away in disgust, amazed at the amount of egotistical gusto that he still showed to her.

"On to matters at hand, Raven," he said, calming his voice once more, "you will await here until I tell you to come down, understand?"

She nodded without looking at him.

"Good," he said, beginning his decent down the stairs, "oh, and one more thing Raven," he started, turning around, "please do behave yourself tonight."

He turned and begun stepping down once more.

Raven only clinched her fist, making the viens close to the surface of her pale skin begin to bulge out.

"I respect him," she thought, her fist still doubled up, "but I hate him with every fiber of my being, I cannot stand him at all, but something other than his threats bind me to him, I don't know what it is, but it's there, I know it."

Slade walked across the extravagant foyer, leading him up to the door, noticing someone was outside already. He noticed Wintergreen had just finished setting the table, several of the robots were helping him with other things as well. Slade walked up to the door, gently opening it.

"Why, welcome, Brother Blood," he greeted, holding his hand out for a shake, "I thought you had other businesses to attend to."

Brother Blood's android hand took hold of Slade's, returning the handshake.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Blood said with a devilish smile, his hellfire red eye shimmering reflection landing on his tuxedo that seemed to match that of Slade's, other figures of people behind him. He motioned behind him, "I do believe you are interested in meeting my top students, are you not?"

"Of course," Slade stated, moving to allow them admittance into his lavish home.

Blood, along with 5 others, made thier way in, spreading out as they entered one after another, awestruck by the house's beauty.

Before Slade could strike up a conversation with Blood, another knock came at his door. He walked to the door once more, opening it.

"I got your invitation," Professor Chang managed, still in fear of the man in front of him.

"More the merrier," Slade commented back, allowing him to enter as well.

"Why, Professor, it has been a while," Blood greeted the man that made him what he was today.

Chang cowered for a moment, then he held out his hand to greet him.

"I do hope you are enjoying your current state, are you not?" he questioned feebly.

"Why of course," Blood guestered, "I forced you to do it, which I do resent by the way, so why should I think any differnt of you, besides, you did a fine job."

"Thank you," Chang managed again, uneasy being in Blood's presence.

Wintergreen stood by the door to let the other "guests" in, whom of which had managed to begin to show up frequently now. After a few minutes, several of Jump City's most notorius villains were present in Slade's home, all there by his request. On top of Blood and Chang, Dr. Light, who had been released only hours before, Cinderblock, who actually decided to dress up by putting a large red tie around his neck, but was told to wait outside because Slade didn't want him scratching up his wooden floor, and the last guest was yet to arrive, but he didn't expect him to anyways, seeing how he didn't work for anyone, neither good or bad. Slade comfortably jogged to the entrance to the dining room.

"Now then," he stated, getting everyone's undivided attention, "if you all will take your seats, we may begin."

They obeyed out of respect for him inviting them, assuming there was honor among thieves that is. After getting nestled into their seats at the long, exsquisite dining table, resuming their conversations of past battles with the Titans, and how they all had ended up failing at thier objective.

Raven kneeled down on the stair, listening to what was going on, hearing the voices of Blood, Chang, Dr. Light, who still didn't know why he was invited to begin with, not conversing with Slade ever before, and several unknown ones, knowing that Slade had gathered this crowd just for her.

"Now," Slade stated, standing up from his head end of the table, "you all know what has transpired lately, if you haven't noticed it anyways, but what power we still hold on to in the city is failing fast, so I have came up with a master plan to take back what is rightfully ours, and defeat the Titans once and for all."

All attention was diverted him when they heard his last statement.

"As some of you know and others do not, but I have yet another apprentice. Robin and Terra were failures, this one, however, is not, thus far I have been able to aquire a flux capacitator and a tube of Xenothium with my apprentice's help. I only need a couple more components before my plans can go into effect. But enough about that, this get-together is in her honor for serving me so loyaly thus far, and hopefully the same in the future."

"Well let's meet her," Brother Blood stated after Slade was done speaking.

"Very well then," he replied, looking up the stairs, "Apprentice, your presence is requested."

There was silence, but footsteps were heard as she descended the stairs with grace, the light from the dining hall beginning to bask her exposed legs, the light traveling up her body as she continued to walk down. Her entire body was visible, all eyes trained on her, but her face was still basked in darkness, stopping on the last step. She looked at Slade, who only nodded for her to continue. Raven took a deep breath and stepped down off of the last step. She could hear all of them draw breath in surprise, their eyes widening. Dr. Light was helping himself to a glass of water when he saw her, spitting it out. She stood there, unmoving.

"You may take your seat, Raven," Slade beckoned, her doing so.

She sat at the other end of the table away from Slade, seated next to Dr. Light and a mysterious girl with dark blue hair. Every few seconds, Dr. Light would glance at Raven for a moment, his eyes full of fear. After she noticed him doing this, she finally couldn't stand it any longer.

"What's your problem?" she questioned hastily, as if her voice pierced his very being, staring him down with her sharp, amythest eyes.

"Nothing, nothing at all," he managed, his voice quivering.

She smirked, finding it was time to break him down in front of everyone.

"I don't even know why you are here," she commented, sitting back in her chair, "you are probably by far one of the worst villains of all time, yet you continue to make vain attempts."

Slade looked up from his polite conversation with Blood to see Raven staring Dr. Light down, but said nothing.

"You really are pathetic, you know that?" she continued to banter him out of amusement, "have you told your "friends" how I apprehended you last time, did you?"

A pause was heard between them, all eyes shifting their attention to Raven.

"You mean you didn't know? I merely tapped him on the shoulder and he broke down and started begging for his life," Raven finished, watching the embarassment radiate from Dr. Light, who sunk into his chair.

"Your kidding, right?" one of the young adults unknown to Raven spoke up, her hair blonde, her blue eyes cocking an eyebrow.

"Why would I lie for such a waste of a person?" she replied back. Upon hearing that, Slade decided to do something before things got "out of hand"

"Apprentice," he stated, getting her attention, breaking contact from Dr. Light, "would you mind telling how your first skirmish with the Titans went?"

"If it would please you, I suppose," she stated flatly, readying herself to go into a deep and developed story.

Beast Boy landed with a thud upon the unforgiving rocky terrain of the island the Tower stood on, Cyborg's "Psycho-bot" charging at him again. No sooner than it readied itself to strike again, Cyborg hit it with his Sonic Cannon, sending it flying backwards before hitting a pile of rocks.

"Dude," groaned B.B., spitting dirt out of his mouth, messing with the torn flap of his uniform on his right arm, "that robot of yours is ruthless."

"Tell me about it, I knew this was gonna be rough, but I didn't know Robin was gonna set it to "kill"," Cyborg replied, picking him up off of the ground, dusting him off.

Robin landed next to them with his staff drawn, determination in his eyes.

"That robot is set to fight just like Slade's apprentice, so if we can't beat it, then we can't beat her, got it?" he warned, basically telling them they weren't going to stop until they had a good plan on how to defeat her.

The robot managed to free itself from the impression it made in the rocks, charging at them again, this time, Starfire attacking it from behind, sending it skidding across the ground, right up to their feet. The eye flickered, then shut off.

"That was easy," Beast Boy commented, "so, did anyone take notes on how to do it now?"

"You have no idea," Cyborg replied, lines of data scrolling across the screen mounted on his arm, "from my recovered battle data, we are gonna have to fight her a lot like we fought Terra, attack at once, not one at a time, hit her when she isn't looking, all that jazz."

They all nodded, looking down on the beaten-up machine.

"Amazing," Blood commented at the conclusion of Raven's story, "simply amazing, you took them down that easily, that fast?"

"Yes," Raven said flatly, looking at her hand, "if you don't believe me, Slade has video proof of the incident."

"So what will you do next time?" Chang asked as he begun his meal, everyone else had.

"Why, I am going to either severly injure or kill them if I see them again, which I am guarenteed I will, so just watch the newspaper headlines in the future, it is bound to be printed," she gloated, proud of her abilities.

The other guests all turned back to each other's attention, talking of what Raven was capable of.

"So, Raven is it?" the blue-haired girl leaned over and whispered.

"Yes, and what is your name?" Raven questioned back, whispering as well.

"Juliet, but I go by Frost," she explained, "you probably already know what I can do by my name, so no need to show you."

"Right, I figured that much," Raven said cooly, she motioned to the other 4 young adults seated next to her, "but who are your friends?"

Her blue eyes lit up, more than eager to introduce them.

"This is Inferno," she motioned to the red-headed, tall male next to her, him looking up and waving. "Electra," pointing to the blonde haired, blue eyed girl, who only smiled back, her hair seemed to be infused with static energy all the time. "Decibel" motioning to the largely built man that looked a lot like Cyborg, except he was completely human. "And last but not least, Whirlwind," pointing to the very end of the table, seated next to Brother Blood, a small, younger girl of Asian decent sat there, keeping to herself.

"Intresting," Raven replied, "do any of you know who I am, or, well, was?"

"Of course," Frost said quickly, "you were a Titan, well, do you still consider yourself one?"

Raven thought for a moment.

"Raven?" She questioned.

"I...do," Raven managed, "things just seem too mixed up right now, I really shouldn't be discussing anything with you about it."

"I see," she said, resting her hand on Raven's bare shoulder, "well, if you ever want to talk about it, you know where we are. I know we just met, but still, everyone needs friends, no matter what, and I don't have many."

"I'll keep it in mind," Raven stated with a smile, shivering, "your...hand."

She removed it with an embarassed smile.

"Sorry, forgot about my powers," Frost apoligized, her nearly white skin darkened with red.

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch, listening to more stories from the past, even Slade sharing a little about himself, which suprised Raven to say the least. After they all said their goodbyes and departed, Slade stood there, shutting the door behind him.

"That went as planned," he commented to himself, suprised, then turning to Raven, who had began to head upstairs to change back, "Raven, come here for a moment."

"Yes?" she questioned, stopping in front of him, looking him directly in his eye.

"The little ordeal with Dr. Light? Would you like to explain that for me, or at least upon how he has become complete nutcase?"

"Oh, that," she said with a laugh, "The first time we ever ran into each other, I happened to lose control and Rage consumed me, taking him into my soul self, only a few seconds more and he would have been dead. Ever since then, he always breaks down in fear at the sight of me."

"My, my, Raven," he stated, "aren't you quite the ruthless one?"

"He's still alive, isn't he?" she questioned in amusement.

"But you have turned him into a man that is scared out of his mind all the time, I believe he is on the brink of insanity myself, so you are quite evil."

Raven only chuckled, Slade's eye widening with suprise.

"I suppose your right," she stated calmly, "anyways, I would like to get out of this thing and go to my quarters now."

"Why do that when you can stay in the house?" Slade informed as he led her back up the stairs.

"Where am I staying at?" she asked in her confusion.

"In Rose's room of course," Slade motioned to the room that she had changed in, "you'll find it to suit your needs."

Raven stepped into the room, but turning to speak to Slade.

"What happened to Rose?" she questioned with seriousness in her voice.

Slade stopped in the middle of the hallway, not turning around, only cocking his head to speak to her.

"I'd rather not speak about it, get some rest, you have a big day tomorrow," Slade calmly stated, continuing his way to his room.

Raven closed the door, looking at the window again.

"He must really trust me," she thought, "that, or he honestly looks to me as being his apprentice and daughter. Frost, her words seemed to, well, touch me. She made me realize that Robin and the others are still out there, waiting for me, but at the same time, combating a greater foe that is in league with Slade, not realizing that her and I are the same. I really do hope that I am able to break free from this before I do something terrible. I respect Slade, as a mentor, as well, a father that I have never had in my life, I will never look at him the same ever again, even if things are ever to go back to the way they were before. There has to be a way wher I can please both him and be able to reunite with my friends, otherwise, all hope and the point of living is lost to me."