Robin leaned over his work desk, peering over large, black and white pictures of the Soggy Bottom...the frigate where he and the Titans had tangled with Red-X and Chang and his teenage meta humans. He hadn't had the chance to go down there and nose around himself, but the police had. Walker had sent him the pictures. Robin stared intently at each one until his eyes started to blur. He couldn't find a thing out of place. He picked up a cell phone blindly while still looking at the pictures. He dialed a number and held it up to his ear.

"Walker here." He answered on the other end. "What the hell do you want?"

"Walker, this is Robin. I didn't want to interrupt you at a crime scene but-"

"I'm not at a crime scene. I'm a lazy bastard."

"...Oh. I thought you would be at the mall."

"Nah, I sent Decker on it. It was a damn good game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Anyway, I could say the same for you, Bird Boy."

Robin grit his teeth but let it pass.

"I have some of the other Titans on it. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra, Bard and Noir. They should be more than enough to handle it."

"Yeah, but can they get a damn thing done without you shouting orders at'em?"

"...I hope so. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about the ones arrested on the Sog-...on the frigate. Acyd, Miist, Polaar and Fraust-"

"Stupid frickin' names, I tell ya. Whatever happened to John and Bob and Ryan and Ashley? Y a know, NORMAL NAMES."

"...yeah. I wanted to know if you've talked to them."

"Not really. I gave'em the preresiquite 'don't give me no shit' speech while blowing smoke in their faces, but that's about it."

"Did any of them mention Flaar?"

"Flaar?"

"He was one of the meta human accomplices that got away."

"Oh." Walker thought about it. "I'd bet your panties they didn't. They've barely said a damn word since getting here."

"All right," Robin nodded, oblivious that the detective couldn't see the gesture. "I'll be down there to talk to them myself...sometime."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. Now get your ass off my phone so I can call Holly and make sure she's all right."

"Is something wrong?"

"You didn't know? My baby's in the beauty pageant. Gonna win the damn thing, too. Now go lay an egg or whatever the hell it is you do when you ain't screaming 'Titans, go!'."

CLICK!

Robin shut off the phone and laid it back on the table. He sighed, rubbed his eyes and went back to the pictures.

TTTTTTTTTT

Elsewhere in Titans Tower, someone else was on the phone.

"I'm tellin' ya, Ritchie! It would be frickin' royal!" Static in a rolling chair in the lab with his feet up on the table. "Yeah, man! It would be like...a super cameo! Static and Gear back together old sckool style! Except it would be even more bad ass because the Titans would be with us, ya know? We'd beat up some baddies and like...go get pizza or something. I hear the Titans love to do that."

Static listened.

"Well...no. Not yet. I'm sure they're waiting for a special occasion or something. Yeah. So yeah, anyway, SUPER CAMEO! Gear strikes fear while kicking rear! Ya know? And while you're here you could totally amaze Cyborg with your brain. We could make fun of Robin and then run away before he could bash us over the head with his bo-staff...OH! Hehehehe. And you could flirt with Raven! I know you've always had a crush on her, dawg."

Static listened.

"Hah! Don't even try it. You can't lie to me, Ritchie! I'm your best friend. I know you! I can see it now!" He tried to make a girly voice. "Oh, Gear! Your inventions are simply glorious! And your blonde hair...those deep eyes...take me now, Gear! TAKKKEEE MEEEEE!"

Static fell off his chair, cackling.

He suddenly stopped.

"WHAT? YOU LIKE ROBIN?" He listened. "Oh...jeez, dawg. You almost had me there! Hahahahah!"

He saw Starfire pass by the door. His face grew serious.

"Yo, Ritchie...let me call you back, man. Yeah, Titan stuff. Peace."

He pocketed the phone and went out into the hallway after Starfire.

TTTTTTTTTT

I stepped out of Jenny's western store, already feeling more masculine. Jenny had tried to thrust all kinds of clothes on me, most of them I refused. He had immediately thrown a black trench coat at me, but I declined. I suppose it looked good enough, but all the new superheroes were wearing trench coats nowadays. I'd stick with my poncho, thank you very cotton pickin' much.

I did trade in my black cowboy boots for some gray snake-skin boots. Those things were awesome. They were free and I couldn't resist. I'm sure Robin would frown on my taking rewards for doing my Titan job...but oh well. What Robin didn't know wouldn't hurt me. Hopefully.

I made my way back down the hallway towards the pageant stage...or what was left of it. As I maneuvered my way through the arcade, I saw some familiar faces. Lisa, Hope, Janice and Tiffany were there, as if they'd been waiting for me. They turned to me as one person.

"You!" Lisa pointed. "I knew I'd seen you somewhere before."

I blinked.

"Um...whatever are you talking about, darlin'?"

"Don't play dumb! You're the new Teen Titan, aren't ya?"

I was caught now. I gave a nervous little nod.

"Hah!" Hope exploded. "I told ya! I TOLD YA!"

Tiffany rolled her eyes.

"You so did not!"

"Well...I was thinking it."

"I know what you were thinking of..."

Hope blushed.

"SHUT UP!"

"Hehehehehe!"

I was looking at Lisa.

"How did you know?"

"How couldn't we?" She shot back. "Everyone's talking about your brawl with that British robo-soldier. The news even has clips from the security cameras and are showing it on TV."

"Huh...ain't that spiffy?" I shook my head. "Listen, I gotta go. Teen Titans business and all."

"Awwww," Janice pouted. "He's too good for us little people now."

"Shush."

"Hey, cowpoke!" Lisa called after me. "Just because you're a Titan doesn't mean I didn't kick your ass in Superhero Smackdown!"

I didn't need to be reminded of that.

Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra and Noir stood by the ruined pageant stage. I trotted up to them.

"Did I miss anything?" I looked at Noir. "And I thought you had my back, by the way."

Noir stuck his tongue out at me.

"We got a plan." Beast Boy smirked. "Terra here is going undercover as a pageant contestant."

Terra blushed when I looked at her.

"Is that right...?" I blinked. "But wasn't this for the finals? How's she supposed to get in now?"

"After the Mad Mod thing," Cyborg said. "A lot of the girls are dropping out. Can't really blame'em. Terra will take one of their spots."

I thought about it.

"So...more than one girl is gonna drop out? They need replacements?"

"Dude, I don't think your eligible, Bard." Beast Boy quipped.

"Maybe." I smirked. "But I know someone who is. Be right back."

I shambled my way back over towards the arcade.

"Oooohhhhh, Lisssssssssssssaaaaaa!"