The sun went down that evening in a magnificent display of orange and red light, reflecting off the thin clouds in the sky and the ocean below, turning them both a shade of light pink.

Jericho (it would be hard getting used to that name) sat on the semi-circle leather couch in the ten story Titans Tower and watched the sunset through the huge window in front of him. The teenage team of superheroes he had met a little while ago had taken him back to their home and had even let him bring his guitar and suitcase from the hotel. He still wasn't sure what all of this was about, but he had discovered that the team's spiky black haired leader, Robin, could speak sign language, so he was expecting at least some of this to be explained to him.

Robin sat down on the couch and handed him a steaming cup of coffee, which Jericho thought was a little much for the warm weather, but accepted it with a nod of thanks to be polite. He took a slow drink, then sat the mug on a small coffee table beside him and turned to Robin.

"How did you know who I was?" He signed slowly to make sure the other boy was following what he was saying. He obviously was.

"Well, I've heard about you before. People with superpowers aren't usually hidden for long." Robin's uniform of tight green pants and red shirt, black and yellow cape, steel-toed boots, and black mask with a white center that covered both eyes completely sort of reminded Jericho of the colors in a traffic light, but for some reason it didn't look half bad on Robin. "And as for me saying earlier that we've been expecting you, we haven't really. I just thought you might show up one of these days. So, why are you here?"

Jericho was not one to lie, so he decided to just to tell the truth. Or at least most of it. "I'm here sort of on business for my mother. She couldn't really come, so she just had me do some things for her here."

"Business, huh?" Robin said. "Sounds interesting."

Jericho nodded as the skinny red headed girl with green eyes and orange-ish skin flew into the room, stopping and hovering before the couch with her hands clasped in a friendly way before her. He had been told the alien girl's name was Starfire. Her uniform was entirely purple, except for the silver armor on her arms, and she wore a belly shirt, mini skirt, and thigh high boots. "Hello, friends. Robin, shall I make some Tamaranean glorg for our new guest?" She closed her eyes as her eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead, a large grin spreading across her face.

"Um, Star, I don't think... maybe just another cup of coffee?" Robin said, his worried expression looking as if he was speaking up to save Jericho's very life.

"Yes, I shall go and get more of the coffee!" Starfire exclaimed, grabbing the cup that was nearly full and flying out of the room.

Robin let out a quick sigh of relief. "Starfire's a great girl, but try to avoid eating her cooking as much as possible," he said with a small smile.

Jericho smiled back and shrugged. He hadn't eaten anything all day and was quite hungry, but decided that it would be better to take Robin's word for it. His hunger only got worse when the huge African-American teen, Cyborg, whose body was almost entirely made of silver and blue metal, walked into the living room holding a huge tray covered in various meats. "This is meat heaven," he said, gnawing on a slice of steak.

"Dude," the green skinned boy with pointy ears and wearing a purple and black bodysuit, Beast Boy, said annoyedly. "That's so not right. How many times have I told you, I've been most of those animals you're eating!"

Jericho cocked his head and glanced at Robin questioningly, who laughed. "Beast Boy's a shape shifter. He can turn into any animal he wants at will."

"Cool!" Jericho signed excitedly. "Robin, you don't have any powers, do you?"

"Just brain power," he replied cockily, crossing his arms.

Starfire walked back into the room, carefully carrying a fresh cup of coffee. "I have brought the coffee. Here you are, Jericho. I have made it myself." She handed it to him, and he signed to her. "I am sorry, but I do not understand the language of the hands."

"He said thank you," Robin said.

"Then I welcome you!" Starfire exclaimed to Jericho. She made a move to hug him, then remembered the hot cup of coffee and stopped. Jericho was surprised. She wanted to hug him! He put the mug down and opened his arms to her in a friendly way. She flew forward and grabbed him in a crushing hug, briefly cutting off his air supply. When she finished, Jericho panted slightly and signed, "Strong girl." Robin laughed.

Jericho looked around the room, slightly puzzled. He was sure there had been one more Titan, a dark and drawn into herself girl who he thought was named Raven. He finally spotted her on the floor in a dimly lit corner, her knees pulled to her chest and her face hidden behind a book. She was different, but nice to look at; not out-and-out beautiful like Starfire, but pretty in her own mysterious way. She wore a long blue cloak that touched that floor over a black leotard, and she had purple-ish hair and silver skin. And she had nice legs, but that was beside the point. Jericho got up from the couch and walked over to her.

She only acknowledged him with a slight glance over the top of her book as he sat down beside her. He hoped he wasn't invading her space, but he found her interesting and couldn't resist talking to her. He pointed to himself and signed his name. "Raven," she said dully, then looked expressionlessly back to her book.

What to say now? She seemed so hard to talk to, but then again there seemed to be a side to her that was almost sweet. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to, though if she did she sure wasn't acting like it.

"So you like to read?" Jericho signed with interest. Raven merely nodded, turning a page in her book. Maybe she really did want to be left alone. He wasn't sure, but he could find out. "Where do you come from?"

She finally took her book away from her face, staring at him with dark blue eyes. "It's a long story."

Jericho nodded. So she didn't want to talk about it. Well, that was okay with him. There were a lot of things he didn't want to talk about either. He didn't really know what to say now, so he decided to be blunt. "You have pretty eyes."

She actually seemed surprised by that, and her expression even changed a little, but she recovered quickly. "Uh, thanks." She looked over his thin frame from his knee-high boot to his blond sideburns, as if she was really taking him in for the first time. And she probably was.

"Jericho," Robin said from behind, and Jericho turned to look at him. "I know you've been staying at a hotel for the past few nights or so, but for however long it takes you to finish up what you've got to do here, we wanted to know if you'd stay here at the tower until you go back home."

"Yes," Starfire said from the couch. "It would be glorious for you to stay with us!"

"I can't understand you," Beast Boy said, "but it'd be nice to have you with us, I guess. I can kick your butt at every video game imaginable, so it's all good."

"Ditto," Cyborg said, taking a break from eating long enough to speak one word, then continued savagely.

Jericho felt a little shy at everyone's eagerness for him to stay, but it probably wouldn't hurt anything. These other kids seemed nice enough. He suddenly wasn't sure how trustworthy they were, but he foolish for thinking it. They were the good guys, right? So he might as well stay.

"All right, I'll stay," he said, smiling shyly.

"Glorious!" Starfire said again, and hovered in flight above the couch, clapping her hands together once.

Cyborg put down his tray of food. "I'll get you a room fixed up, if you want."

"That'd be great."

-T-

That night after a hot shower, Jericho put his guitar, suitcase, and backpack in the room he had been assigned to and walked through the dark tower in search of someone to talk with briefly. He felt that he needed to be brushed up on the rules of this place, if there were any, to make sure he didn't do anything wrong or offensive. He didn't want these people mad at him already.

He was about to pass the open door of the training room when he heard low voices from inside. He stopped before walking in to make sure he wasn't interrupting a private conversation.

Cyborg's voice. "I think he'd make a good a team member."

Robin. "Don't forget what happened the last time we jumped into something like this. We don't know much about him; actually, we don't know anything about him."

Beast Boy. "I've heard he's got real cool powers."

Robin again. "He does. He can possess people through eye contact. But what if he turns out to be an enemy? That could be real disadvantage for us."

Starfire. "I do not believe he is dangerous. He seems like a nice boy."

"A lot of people seem nice, Starfire," Raven said flatly. You can't trust people just by what they seem like."

"We'll be careful and keep our heads up," Robin said. "But let's not act like we're cautious of anything like this."

Jericho knocked on the wall as if he had just walked up, and Robin called for him to come in. Jericho walked in smiling. "I've had a long day, I think I'm going to bed."

"All right, man," Cyborg said.

"I wish you the good night," Starfire said cheerfully.

Jericho waved at them and left the room. He had been told to help himself to anything he wanted, so he went into the kitchen for a glass of water. Something on the window TV caught his eye, and he turned to look. The Jump City news was talking about a recent bomb attack on a college. His heart skipped a beat as he grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. The longer he watched, the more clear it became that this was Grant's college itself, and strangely it had been the only one attacked. Jericho sucked in a breath and held it as the news reporter explained that had been many injuries and even a few deaths. When they flashed footage of what the building looked like after the bombing, Jericho fought back a silent sob. It was levelled clear down to the pavement, and nothing but charred remains.

So had his father told the truth about Grant's death? Jericho was too shocked to really think. What exact day had this bombing happened? Was it before or after Slade told the news about Grant? Jericho refused to cry, especially right now. It was still not clear if his brother had died in this bombing, or if he had even been there when it happened. And who did it, and why? He decided not to tell Adeline until he was absolutely sure what was going on. He dreaded telling her anyway.

A loud alarm and flashing red lights shook him back into reality, and the Titans burst into the room, Robin leading the way. He shut off the TV and quickly pulled up the computer screen, focusing on a blinking red dot on the blue city map.

"Titans, we've got trouble," he said. "Jericho, you can come with us. It's him."

"Who?" Jericho signed.

Robin looked up from the keyboard. "It's Slade."