Two hours and forty seven minutes later, Cyborg saw the bat shaped jet land vertically outside the tower. Of course Batman would be early. He walked down to meet the legend and tried very hard not to feel like a scared, lost little boy who saw his father coming to get him. He buzzed the door open. "Batman," he said with a nod.

"Cyborg," he replied in that always surprisingly deep voice. "Where is the rest of your team?"

"Asleep."

"Smart," Batman said. "You called Robin?" Cyborg nodded. "Let the others sleep."

"Hard to wake him up and not wake up Star," Cyborg said.

Batman glanced at the younger hero and gave a slight nod. "I didn't know."

"About six months now." They stepped into the common room and Robin and Star were just entering. He was dressed and ready while she wore a robe.

He gravely nodded at Starfire and greeted her by name, then turned to Robin. "Ready?" Robin only nodded and started to head out the door as Batman turned. Starfire actually made an aborted gesture at reaching for Robin but stopped, looking embarrassed. The two remaining Titans trailed slowly behind until they reached the door. They watched the grim pair climb into the jet, still not having spoken to each other. Star gave a little half wave but Robin either didn't notice or choose not to to acknowledge it.

"Go sleep now, friend Cyborg," Star said gently. "I will do the holding down of the fort." For a moment, he was going to resist her suggestion, but he did need to rest and recharge and as much as he hated to admit it, with those two working the case, any research he could do was superfluous. He nodded and turned for the stairs. "Cyborg," she called after him. He turned back. "I know you sometimes feel isolated." She stepped up to him and touched his cheek, almost the only living flesh that could be touched. He nearly flinched away. "You need not. I am always here if you want, and so are the others."

"I know, Star."

"Would you instead like to sit with me for a while?" she asked. "It would please me."

He very nearly said yes but instead shook his head. "You heard the man. I need to hit the sack." She nodded, looking a little sad. He turned to leave and she went to the kitchen for something hot to drink.

Normally, it is hard to be pinned against a wall, as Gar was, and manage to get up without waking the person pinning you. He was able to just change into a hummingbird and fly out of the infirmary. Batman's antidote was effective. Now that the Joker venom was out of his system, he felt much better and was ravenous. He flew to their bedroom and changed into a fresh costume before heading down stairs. Star was sitting on the couch and staring out the windows. She smiled wanly at him as he passed and hadn't moved by the time he returned with a full pot of coffee and cereal, a brand that he liked and one he knew was her favorite. She watched him with a fond little smile as he poured her a cup, and then made her a bowl of the sugary kids cereal she liked so much. "Thank you," she said, reaching for them.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"Batman arrived a few hours ago. He and Robin are out hunting for this Joker. Cyborg is asleep. We are to wait for them to call so we can defeat this wretched man."

Gar nodded. "Makes sense."

"Raven is still asleep?"

"In the infirmary," he said. He heaved a sigh. "It's pretty messed up in there. We had a fight."

Star thought carefully before she spoke, resisting the urge to ask exactly what they fought about. "Is it better now?"

He shrugged. "At least I'm not clawing her guts out to make myself feel better. I'm such a little shit to her sometimes." Star looked as if she were trying to think of something to say and he went on. "Yeah. It's a little better."

"Garfield, after the horrors the two of you witnessed and went through together, I would fear for you most if you acted as if there was nothing wrong."

He chuckled cynically, "We're damn sure not doing that."

A deep rumble and slight tremble swept through the tower. Gar immediately assumed it was something with Raven but Starfire ran to the window. "Wake Raven and Cyborg. I must go change," she said. He looked out the window and saw the dark plume of smoke rising over the city.

"I'm going," he said. "Meet me there." He ran out to a landing that existed for precisely this reason and took wing. The smoke was coming from a dockside warehouse. It's front, facing the water, was obliterated and a fire was spreading. He was still surveying the situation when a dark disc appeared and the other three stepped through. Cyborg armed his sonic cannon while Star and Raven took to the air. Gar landed next Cy and transformed into his massive gorilla form so that no one was without backup. Someone ran out of the building, engulfed in flame. Cyborg tackled the man and rolled him to extinguish the flames. In the distance the sirens could be heard.

Batman climbed out of the water where he had apparently jumped to escape the blast. Star saw that Robin was nowhere to be seen and flew down in the first stages of panic. Batman produced a radio from his belt. "Robin. Report."

Robin's voice came through, crackling with interference but reassuring. "I went down into the sewers. I'm fine."

"I'm uninjured," Batman replied. "Rendezvous at the plane." He turned to the Titans and Raven flew down to join the group. "The only people in there were a few of Joker's men. Don't take any chances for them." He spared one glance at the burned man. "Will he live?"

"I think so," Cyborg said.

"Keep two of you with him. We need to question him and Joker might take a shot at shutting him up." He looked over at Changeling and Raven. "Keep them separate." He turned and ran down an alley next to the burning building.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Batman's directive was more then a little insulting to Gar and Raven but no one seemed ready to protest or go against his orders. Finally Cyborg said "Gar and I can go with him?" he said, his tone making clear it was a question or suggestion. They all agreed. Cyborg went over to where two paramedics were working on the criminal.

Raven approached Gar and gave Star a beseeching look. The alien understood and stepped away from them. She stepped close to him and said softly, "We were both a little crazy last night, right?"

"That's true," he said. "I was..."

"I know what you were."

He grinned a little. "Do you know what I am now?"

"Really, really sorry?" He nodded agreement. "So am I." She kissed him briefly and said "So, we're OK. Don't worry about that. Keep your head in the game and be careful."

"I love you," he said, "and I will."

"Changeling!" Cyborg called, "They're ready."

"Ride in the ambulance with them. I'll fly and keep watch," Gar replied. Cy nodded and got in while Gar transformed into a huge eagle and took to the air.

Starfire and Raven stayed around for a while, helping with the fire as they could. It was soon clear that there were no other survivors so they teleported back to the tower. They sort of wandered into the common room and sat on the couch. Suddenly, Starfire laughed. Raven jumped to her feet in a panic. "No, No, I am well," she said with a giggle. "It was an honest laugh."

"Star," Raven said in exasperation. "Are you serious with that right now?"

"It's just..." she said, and giggled briefly, "We are the damsels in distress."

"What?"

"The men are out chasing the villain and guarding the burned man and here we sit, worrying and waiting!" She covered her mouth with her hand but couldn't stop. Raven snorted in amusement. "Perhaps we should put on the nice dresses so we look good for them when they return from their manly exertions."

"We absolutely need to cook for them." Raven agreed. This was a welcome distraction. "We can't have them coming home without a hot meal waiting on them."

"Oh!" Star said, actually excited, "We must let them carry us upstairs and ravish us while we tend only to their pleasure but not our own!"

"Star!" Raven was shocked and mortified at first but gradually. "Can you imagine what they would do if we actually acted like that?"

"It would frighten them terribly," Star said.

"They would start checking if we were robots or mind controlled or something," Raven said. Starfire nodded agreement. "I'm half tempted to do it, just to see the look on their faces."

"I am not," Star said, "except for the ravishing part."

"Star!"

"What? Do you not sometimes find it pleasurable..."

Raven held up a hand. "We're stopping this line of conversation right now." she said firmly. Star stopped but had a mischievous smile that Raven found a little smug. The moment was broken when there communicators commanded their attention.

At the hospital, Cyborg sat in the burn ward with their subject. Gar was in the hall, keeping watch as a literal fly on the wall. It was perhaps an hour into their vigil when Cyborgs communicator beeped. Gar transformed and was on the floor in the hall in an instant, reaching for his. Robins voice came through. "Star, Raven, 153 North Crescent, now. Cy, Changeling, do not leave your post."

Gar stepped into the room and asked "You remember what's there?" he asked.

"Checking," Cy said, tapping on his device. "It's on Templeton campus," he said, "The tech school."

"They do anything high tech enough to interest Joker?"

"Not that I know of. Get back in the hall, this could be a distraction." Gar nodded and stepped into the hall. A nurse was passing, reading a chart. She walked past him without looking up and turned a corner. Before he changed, his excellent hearing caught that she started running as soon as she turned the corner. While it is a well known fact that chimps are vastly stronger then humans, the speed at which they can move is less well known. He dashed around the corner with a surprising burst of speed in time to see the door to the stairs close. He burst through, tearing the door from its hinges without slowing. He took the convenient, for a chimp, shortcut of just jumping down two stories and landing between the woman and the door she was making for. He screamed at her in primal challenge.

The woman screamed in a voice was cartoonishly high pitched. She was fast and had almost brought the gun she produced to bear when Gar simply bludgeoned her in a simian's awkward but powerful attack. She went down hard and didn't move. Gar kicked the gun away and grabbed her by the hair to drag her up the stairs. He entered the room and Cy said "Dude! You scared the hell out of me..." he stopped when he saw that Gar was dragging a woman behind him.

He transformed back to human. "I think," he said, "that this is the one and only Harley Quinn." He lifted the scrub shirt and looked under it, his suspicion confirmed by the red and black leotard the woman wore. He pushed her toward Cyborg, who produced zip cuffs from some hidden compartment and bound her hand and foot. He followed it by a brutal but effective search in which he showed no respect for her gender. It left her on the bed in her underwear, which was clearly incapable of concealing anything. He found another gun, two knives, and some grenades that he tossed out the window and detonated with his cannon. Gar pulled out his communicator and said "Changeling here, what is you status?"

Ravens voice came back. "It appears to have been a distraction."

"There was an attempt on this guy's life. You all need to get here. We have Harley Quinn tied up on the bed."