Chapter 5: Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep

Cassandra kicked the punching bag with such force that it threatened to come crashing to the ground.

"Calm down," Robin said calmly. "All of us get caught at one point or another."

"It's not that," she grunted still punching. "It's the fact that I couldn't take her down!" With a cry of frustration, she punched the bag to the point that stuffing was leaking out of the side.

"You say she blocked everything you threw at her and even tried some of your moves on you?" Robin asked.

"Yes, and she did it very damn well," she muttered fiercely.

"That's very strange," he muttered.

"Why is that so strange? She obviously has a mind reading ability of some kind. Why else would she be able to imitate and block everything?"

"All of those move I taught you, were passed onto me by Batman. After I learned them, it would take the Teen Titans weeks to learn one." Cassandra finally stopped her training.

"So, she could have taken the thoughts from my head. I sure was thinking about all those moves you taught me."

"You don't get it. I've never heard of anyone picking up the steps that quickly. It's practically impossible."

"Maybe she's just a fast learner."

"Maybe…"

"I just need to be more careful next time I go out…"

"Wait, wait! Next time? What do you mean next time? If you can't handle her now, that only means you've got to practice more. There's not going to be a next time until you're ready to face her again. Understood?"

"Yes, father," she muttered her fingers crossed behind her back.

"Mom!" Victoria yelled from the kitchen. She heard footsteps coming from upstairs. But they were not the light steps her mother would take, but heavier steps that had to belong to her father. She quickly hid the costume she was holding in they dirty cloths hamper next to the laundry room.

"Yes," her father said finally appearing at the stairs.

"I believe I called for mom."

"Well maybe I can help."

"Umm… I don't think you can."

"Oh, why not? Just tell me."

"Well, okay, you see I started my period about three days…"

"Raven!" Robin yelled turning pale, "your daughter wishes to speak to you."

Raven came running down the stairs. "Thank God! Now I'll leave you two ladies to talk," Robin said exiting.

"What's going on?" Raven whispered even though Robin was out of sight.

"My costume got some red stuff on it last night," her daughter whispered back taking the costume out of the hamper.

"Let's have a look shall we?" Raven said taking the costume and looking around. Once certain that the coast was clear, she pushed a button located on a flower that was in the wall paper. A secret door flung open and the two, daughter and mother, ran down the hall way behind the door as it closed behind them.

Once where they wanted to be, Raven took the costume out of Victoria's hands and examined it. They had entered a small laboratory where Raven would spend countless hours teaching her daughter the scientific aspects of crime fighting and improving Victoria's equipment. As she ran her hands along the fabric, she found what Victoria had been talking about. A red spot was on her costume. It stood out because of its color. She took a sample and placed it on a microscope slide and turned on her electron microscope to view the sample.

"Well, what is it?" Victoria asked.

"Not sure, the microscope will break down the sample's molecular structure. It will only take a second." Their answer printed out in less than a minute. Raven took a look at the chemical she had examined.

Zinothium

"No," she whispered looking at the paper and putting the puzzle together.

"What is it? Do you recognize the stuff?" Victoria asked hastily.

"Yes, you can say we're old friends," he mom replied.