A/N: Hey, I am getting some hits, so thanks to the people who at least bother to click on my story. Trying a little new notation, it will help this chapter to be less confusing as the setting will change quite frequently. Suggestions, comments, flames? Put 'em in a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. (These things are stupid and pointless. Are these people really going to come after us? I don't think that this one particular phrase has any legal binding. Whatever.)

The Apartment

Black Thorn stepped out of the shower after grabbing a towel of the rack on the sliding glass door. The steam swirled around the brightly lit room dampening everything and creating the likeness of an early morning fog.

She reached under the sink and pulled from the cabinet, a hairdryer. She plugged it into the socket and was about to switch it on when an explosion shook the room and she heard the sound of glass being shattered everywhere, including the room right outside the bathroom door.

She froze where she stood, unsure of how to react but positive that making a whole lot of noise herself would not probably help the situation, especially given her current position. She slowly set the hair dryer on the edge of the sink and silently turned towards the door.

She moved quickly across the cold tile of the floor and, with her right hand still clutching her towel, placed one side of her body against the door and gripped the doorknob with her left. She slowly turned the knob, slowly pulling the door open a few inches. She leaned he head over to the small gap and peered outside, into her room.

'Three men, full body armor, heavily armed, came in through the window.' She observed the situation before her. They were searching her room, looking for something.

'There must be more. Ariel! Oh, shit, I don't hear any gunfire, they either can't find him or they already got him.' The three men were still moving cautiously around her room, checking ever corner and under anything that might contain her, or a trap.

They were giving different hand signals indicating to one another. One, the leader of this particular group she assumed, gave an all-clear signal; they lowered their weapons to a ready position and gather together, still weary of any potential danger.

"I gotta take a leak…" She overheard one saying. She quickly shut the door and stood there for a moment, thinking.

On the bathroom counter there were a pair of sunglasses, she quietly ran over to pick them up then slid them over her eyes. The doorknob began to twist; she nearly flew back over to the side where she had been.

The door opened and one of the men walked in, closing it behind him. He walked directly over to the toilet, not noticing the girl in the towel standing close behind him. His hands reached down, he was whistling under his helmet.

Black Thorn kicked the back of his right knee and he fell forward, before he had a chance to se his attacker, react, or do his business; she stripped the helmet from his head with lightning speed letting it fall to the floor, grasped the back of his head with one hand, his chin with the other, and forcefully pulled his head around, breaking his neck.

The lifeless body slumped on its knees and fell over to the right, leaning against the wall.

The towel began to come unwrapped but she managed to grab it in time, twisting it back into place.

'No patches or insignia. They're mercenaries.' She thought, observing the corpse. She only had a few more seconds until the man's partners become suspicious.

She went back to the door, opened it slowly again and looked outside. The two remaining mercenaries were standing tentatively in the middle of the room. She slowly reached her hand out of the crack and grabbed of the set of clothes that were on a small table next to the door. She grabbed them and quickly pulled her arm back inside. Unbeknownst to her, she had caused one of the men so see something in the corner of his eye.

She dropped the towel and quickly put on the light cotton shorts and T-Shirt she used as workout clothes. She heard the footsteps of two men coming towards the door.

'Not ready for a fight, shit, shit, not ready. Oh, damn.' She squared her stance off a few feet from the door.

The door opened after Black Thorn had gone back to her position behind it. The two men waked in, single file. After they were both in the room a few steps, the one in front saw his friend, lying dead on the ground.

"Shit."

Black Thorn fired the tazer-gun she had lifted from the dead man and the two small metal contact needles dug themselves into the lead mans thigh, sending a powerful volt of electricity into him, knocking him backwards. He stumbled into the sink, and fell on it, cracking one of the pipes and sending a small steam of water flowing from the tiny breach. He fell on the ground unconscious.

The second man wheeled around just in time to see Black Thorn's foot connecting with his stomach. He stumbled backward, dropping his gun, the wind knocked out of him.

'How can that little girl hit so hard.' But he barely had time to think before she set upon him with a furious attack. He managed to block a punch and push her several feet back, giving him a moment to recover himself.

They faced each other in fighting stances, ready to finish it. The mercenary pulled a large hunting knife from his boot and waved it menacingly at Black Thorn.

'No honor among thieves.' She thought. He ran towards her, knife arm outstretched. She moved to the right, on the outside of his arm, hitting with her wrist while concomitantly punching him in the kidney. He started to fall down but her grabbed her wrist and pulled her down with him.

They began to grapple on the floor. He was on top of her, bringing down his fist when she rolled herself on her side, his hand smashing into the tile, nearly disintegrating it under the tremendous force.

She brought her knee up as hard as she could, connecting with a spot she was sure the man did not want to be hit; he rolled off of her, temporally stunned. The water sprayed violently around them, he rolled into it, quickly becoming doused by the spray and the puddle around him.

He brought himself back together, and after finding the knife at his feet, seized it and stood up. He glared maliciously at Black Thorn, who had backed herself up against the sink.

"I'm gonna enjoy this." He said menacingly, an evil grin on his face, seeing the look of fear in her eyes.

Her gaze focused, her expression hardened. The fear was gone. "I wouldn't bee so sure of that…" She held up the hairdryer lightly in her right hand. The mercenary looked down, and then looked back up at Black Thorn.

"Wait don—" He was cut off as Black Thorn dropped the electronic appliance into the overflowing sink.

The lights flickered for a moment.

Black Thorn carefully stepped over the smoking body and water, and out into her room. She suited up and got her gear more quickly than she had ever before in her life, and went to her door.

Gunfire erupted from the other side and a stray bullet penetrated her wall, passing only centimeters from her head. She dove to the ground and made a path away from the door on her stomach, her sword scraping along in her left hand.

She got into a crouch and moved with speed to the window, the broken safety glass crunching under her boots. She spotted the ropes the three men had used to gain entry, grabbed hold of one, sat on the widow frame and eased herself over the ledge. She repelled down the two stories of the side of the building to be as quite as possible, not wanting to attract attention.

She hit the ground, and looked around.

Jump City Outskirts

"Where would she go?" A man in urban fatigues asked Ariel.

He was sitting in a steel chair, his hands held behind his back by a pair of handcuffs. Each ankle was closely bound to a corresponding leg of the chair. His black T-Shirt was wet in some places from perspiration, and blood. His head was hanging down from exhaustion; sweat dripping off his hair and down his face.

He looked up at his interrogator; the man was in shadow, the only source of light in the room above his own head. His vision was blurred, slightly. There were several bruises on his face, and a few small bandages over cuts.

"Disney Land." He responded.

A fist came careening out of the darkness and found its target in his stomach. Ariel coughed exhaled violently, saliva mixed with blood escaping from his mouth. The man who had stepped out of the shadows had only done so for a moment before he returned to his darkness to continue the interrogation.

"Why you palyin' so rough?" He managed to sputter out; he shook his head to clear it.

"That was nothing. Just a taste, a free sample." The man in silhouette and darkness explained.

"And I thought that was the best you could do…"

"You see…we are going to play a little game. I'm going to ask you some questions, and when I don't get answers I like, you will find out about it."

"Sounds like fun. What's the grand prize?"

"A merciful death." The man said, he stepped into the light, revealing himself, a smile on his face.

Ariel looked into his eyes, there was no compassion behind those eyes, no emotion any normal person would have.

"I will remember you." He said with cold determination, glaring into the man's eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you will…"

The Apartment

"It looks like there was one hell of a battle here." Cyborg said, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, but where are all the people?" Beast Boy asked while scratching his head.

"That's just it, where are they?" Robin spoke out loud but it seemed as though he was deep in thought.

"There's another room like it, no gun fire but it's pretty messed up." Raven came back into the kitchen.

"Hundreds of shots fired but no casings, no blood; bullet holes but no bullets. Just destruction and rubble." Robin thought aloud.

"What is our next action, Robin?" Starfire floated forward and landed next to Raven.

"Check the whole warehouse, if there is anything, call it in. Look for anything that seems out of place."

"You mean more out of place than a trendy apartment hidden in an abandoned warehouse?" Beast Boy said from the back of the group, holding up one finger.

Robin stared at Beast Boy for a moment, his expression darkening slightly. "Just go." At his words the Titans again split up to search the massive building more thoroughly.

The Kitchen, one hour ago

Ariel hit the end of the table and slid across the top for a few inches until his hand felt the heavy, blued steel and maple grip. His fingers curled around the checkered etching as he continued to slide across the finished redwood surface.

His thumb found the snap, holding the gun in its holster and popped it, sending it forward, and freeing the gun. He again used his thumb, to turn the safety off. He rotated the gun over from its sideways position, took aim at one of the mercenaries, and pulled the trigger.

The solid, 45 caliber slug found its mark in the man's neck, between his armor. In another one tenth of a second six more bullets had found targets among the stomachs, heads, and chests of the assault force.

The magazine was empty.

His left hand shot out and grabbed the edge of the table, snapping his momentum around, bringing him back to the side he started on and flipping the table on it side for cover.

This happened so quickly that the commander of the forces in the center had only just finished releasing the retracted slide of his pistol, priming his weapon; by the time Ariel was under cover. His men falling around him, he backed away several steps and ordered…

"Fire!"

Bullets began to tear into the table Ariel was hiding behind. But the inches thick hardwood did not give, the bullets chipped away and flattened against surface. Ariel pulled another magazine out of the holster belt, dropped the empty one out of his gun, and replaced it, seating it with the palm of his hand on the bottom. He flipped the side switch and the slide snapped forward.

The hail of gunfire ceased and the clatter of a dozen magazines echoed through the room. Ariel vaulted over the side of the table, leveled and shot three times, sending three men sprawling on the floor.

One man dropped his rifle and drew a tazer-gun from his belt. He fired it into Ariel's back as he broke the arm of a man who had rushed him with a nightstick.

He cringed and fell to his knees, letting out a short yell of pain. The current stopped and he began to stand back up when the mercenary pulled the trigger again, sending another 20000 volts his way.

The commander walked the few feet between him Ariel, a baton in his hand, and hit him in the head, sending him to the floor unconscious.

"Sir, Watkins, and his team are in the bathroom, the girl must have killed them."

"Did you find her?"

"She's gone."

"Clean this place up a bit, standard operating procedure."

"Yes sir."

Jump City Outskirts

"I have to tell you, you hit pretty hard."

"I do what I can. Now…where'd you hide the money you've taken?"

"I blew it all on Pacman…very addicting."

The man smiled and plunged a knife into Ariel's left thigh.

Somewhere in Jump City

"Boost, any word over the usual channels?"

"No Thorn, not one bit of chatter about a job like what went down at your place."

"Alright, but if you pick anything up give me a call."

"Sure thing."

"And remember to check the back channels."

"Of course."

She closed the cell phone and continued walking down the crowded sidewalk, in civilian clothes, just another pedestrian.

'I'll find you. Hang on."

A/N: Hope you liked it. Drop me a review.