Hey everybody! BOY I am so sorry you had to wait so long this time! But hopefully, this chapter will more than make up for how long you had to wait for it to come out! In this long awaited chapter, with Valentine's Day unfolding the very next day, Raven finds herself quite pleasantly surprised when she discovers an unexpected gift (and one very clearly designed for a romantic overture at that) at her door, and that it is apparently from 'her secret admirer'. And before long, she soon finds herself pleasantly surprised, touched, and actually quite curious about who the secret admirer is and if perhaps she should consider pursuing a chance at a relationship with him if she's lucky. However, at the exact same time that this joyous little mystery is unfolding, an unpleasant figure from the previous summer is hard at work . . . and this time, he's both set up shop right in Jump City and now gotten to work on setting things up for potentially recruiting two local Titan foes who, while hardly doomsday material, could yet prove worth keeping an eye out for. Sound exciting? I certainly hope so! And that being said, here's to also hoping that you read, review, and enjoy!

A/N: But first, I once again remind you that I do not own Teen Titans, anything else DC-based, or anything else mentioned in here that likewise belongs to a higher legal power. And with that out of the way, onward with the fic!

Chapter 7:

A Secret Admirer

Raven woke up, yawning slightly as she did so. She opened her eyes, and silently gazed around her and took in the familiar sight of her room and everything inside it. Then she took a look at the small gothic themed calendar on one of the walls, and mentally sighed. It was now February 13, 2018. Valentine's Day was the very next day.

She turned her head in the direction of the door, and hung her head. She wouldn't lie. She had indeed enjoyed spending time with all her friends and fellow team mates among the Titans the previous day. And yes, she would indeed keep her promise to at least consider the possibility of what she had discussed with Starfire, Jinx, Terra, and Bumblebee the same day. But even so, that one little part of her was still somewhat displeased and saddened that she was even now seeming to be highly likely to once again be on her own as a single lady for Valentine's Day this year.

With a sigh, she got herself out of bed and started walking slowly towards the door to her room. "In any event," she thought to herself, "at least Beast Boy and I can still go to the zoo together as friends." She came to a stop about a footstep or two away from the range at which the door would start opening automatically, sighing once more. "Life used to be so much simpler and less gloomy than this," she thought to herself. She hung her head, shaking it side to side in the process. "I miss those days," she whispered to herself. She lifted her head. "Well," she said to herself out loud. "Here goes nothing." With a final sigh, she made the last few steps necessary to trigger the door into opening automatically, and she stepped her left foot forward into the hallway.

At the sound of a small crinkling noise coming from under her left foot, Raven paused, and looked down. Lying on the floor directly in front of the door to her room was a wrapped up bouquet of black orchids, and her left foot was currently positioned right on the center of the area with the floral shop wrapping coiled around it.

Raven's eyes widened at the sight of this. She had not been expecting this. "What in Azar," she thought to herself. She lifted her foot away from the flowers, leaned over, and picked them up, examining them closely. She turned around and walked further back into her room, the door sliding closed in the process. As the sorceress examined the flowers in her hand, she couldn't help but let a small smile come on her face. The flowers were actually quite beautiful, and she had to admit that whoever had gotten them must have really known her well; after all, orchids were her favorite flower. Then she noticed a small slip of paper attached to the wrapping, and she turned the bouquet around to get a good look at it. Her eyes widened once more upon catching sight of what was written on it. Upon the paper, written in old English runes, were the words 'From Your Secret Admirer'.

Barely breathing, Raven gently removed the paper strip from the bouquet, gaping intently in a mixture of shock and happiness. "Wow," she thought to herself. A small smile formed on her face, her look of shock giving away entirely to a look of her own unique brand of joy. "Someone . . . actually . . . gave me . . . flowers." She lifted her head slightly. She had to admit, she was actually feeling quite lucky right now. No one had ever done anything like this for her before period, let alone at this time of the year. The fact that this year, someone actually had done exactly that kind of a deed, made her feel quite happy. And for once, both her human and demon sides seemed to be in perfect harmony and agreement on the matter.

Then her eyes narrowed into a frown, and she looked at the slip of paper once more. "But now the question is," she thought to herself, "who is this 'Secret Admirer'?"

And indeed this was quite a good question, even for Raven. Granted, considering the fact that the gift had been inside the tower, and directly in front of her bedroom door, it was logical to assume that one of the other Titans was responsible. Granted, she already knew that she could rule out every single one of the girls on the team. After all, as far as she knew, they were all straight, or in Melvin's case just too young to really be all that interested in romance. She also knew that she could rule out all of the boys on the team that already had girlfriends, as she was easily able to tell just through emotional feedback alone that they were in smooth and well-functioning relationships and not at all keen on cutting things off. And she could definitely rule out Cyborg as well due to how he was both very focused on fostering the possibility of a relationship with Sarah Simms and viewed her as more of a little sister anyway. But even with the Titans that remained in the equation, the one responsible for the gift, whoever it was, had certainly put in a lot of effort to make sure it wouldn't be too easy for her to trace the gift back.

Usually she would have been able to determine the identity through some subtle detail or other. But this time, she had no such luck. After all, as far as she knew, not a single one of them had shown any sign before of even knowing old English, let alone the ability to write words in that language. And even with that in mind, she certainly didn't recognize the handwriting the way she usually could.

"Nonetheless," she thought to herself. "It has to be one of them. Logically speaking, that's the only possibility that makes any sense . . . relatively speaking." She thought to herself some more. "Maybe I could still at least rule out a few more of the suspects," she thought to herself, and she looked at the little slip of paper once more. Before long, she was able to confidently rule out several more of the eligible suspects. Teether and Timmy were much too young to have even learned how to write, let alone develop a romantic interest in anyone; and besides, they, like Melvin, already viewed her as more of a surrogate mother figure anyway. Mas and Menos, who were around the same age as Melvin, still appeared quite precociously infatuated with Starfire, and also preferred very strongly to write in Spanish, were also easily eliminated from the equation. She could also eliminate Thunder and Lightning, as not only were they both still quite happy to remain bachelors themselves, but had also in the end opted to remain in Obsidian City back in Florida instead of accompanying their teammates to Jump City.

"Who else can I rule out?" Raven thought to herself. The answer came to her within seconds. "Well for one, Wildebeest is definitely a no." And for good reason. For starters, from what she'd seen of the mutant humanoid wildebeest, and in spite of his size, he acted very strongly like he was still an elementary school aged child. Also, considering some of his more, primal, culinary tastes, he would have been far more likely to eat the flowers rather than save them for use as a gift. And even if that weren't the case, she would definitely have gotten a whiff of his almost nauseatingly strong body odor. Then Raven realized that she could also just as easily rule out Gnark. For starters, not only would he have crushed the flowers in his large hands, but he was also not all that keen on attempting to go out on the market; not to mention quite preoccupied in playing chaperone with Kole and Jericho. And no sooner had Raven reached this point when she also decided that she could also rule out Bushido. In spite of knowing how to read and speak English, he made a point to always write in Japanese, on the kind of paper that usually got used for scrolls, and with legitimate ink that you could write with while using a quill.

Raven took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "That leaves 3 suspects among the team," she whispered out loud. "Kilowatt, Speedy, and Beast Boy." And indeed, all three of those boys had equal claim to potentially being the 'secret admirer' responsible for giving her the flowers. Kilowatt had only ever been all that keen on opening up and conversing with three people among the Titans; Bushido, Cyborg, and Raven. In fact, Raven had occasionally even taken part in giving him a form of therapy in engaging in relatively private one-on-one conversations that had allowed her to learn quite a lot about the heavily guarded, aloof, and somewhat antisocial electrokinetic. And one particularly attention worthy detail she'd learned from him was how she actually reminded him very much of an old friend that he knew from back where he'd come from. Granted, he'd just as strongly made it clear that he wished very much to keep himself available for that same girl for as long as he possibly could; assuming he'd ever so much as consider setting his eyes on anyone else. But then again, could he have perhaps decided to try to test himself with Raven as a direct result of how much she reminded him of that friend?

Then there was Speedy to consider. Granted, he was rather carefree, laid back, and egotistical at times. And he was not above flirting around every now and then, though not nearly as often as Kid Flash was notorious for. But underneath all that, he was also quite guarded, raw, and capable of being a very nice guy at the same time. Also, he had proven himself capable of reading, writing, and even speaking in Vietnamese; so it probably wasn't too big a stretch to consider that he'd perhaps also managed to learn other languages, including old English. Finally, from what she'd learned from Beast Boy and heard confirmed by the archer himself over the course of the previous day, he did have 'plans' for this Valentine's Day. Was it really that unreasonable then, perhaps, to consider the possibility that these plans involved her in some capacity?

And then there was Beast Boy. Truth be told, just as she'd promised to her gal pals the previous day, she'd been giving their comments about Beast Boy quite a bit of thought. Admittedly, she still wasn't entirely certain whether or not she was completely willing to attempt starting up a relationship or anything with him just yet; and the fact that she didn't recall detecting any signs in his emotional output of him having that kind of feeling for her. But then again, with the current mass beacon's worth of emotional output he was giving off, she was currently having far more difficulty than usual in pinpointing individual emotions. And now that she thought about it, who knew what Beast Boy had managed to talk about with everybody else yesterday? Or what he and Robin had been discussing about when they'd gone into the tower on their own before the arrival of Titans North and South? For all she knew, Beast Boy could have just as easily undergone a similar experience with the guys that she'd undergone with the girls and just been the first of the two to take the initiative and make the first step. Granted, she would never have expected him to know old English, but she'd been wrong about his level of intellect before. And even so, he could have just as easily have had help.

Raven thought on the matter a couple minutes more. Then she let a small smile come on her face, and she gently placed the flowers down on the chest of drawers where a large mirror was situated. "Well I guess I'll just have to find out the hard way." She turned away from the flowers and slowly walked back to the door to her room, this time completely exiting when she reached the door.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in the common room, the other four founders were likewise busy with their own little tasks. Robin was currently sitting at the kitchen island with his usual newspaper and coffee present. Starfire was leaning against the kitchen counter opposite the kitchen island, tapping her foot up and down as she patiently waited for what she currently had cooking in the oven to finish. Cyborg was on the sofa watching the news on TV, which was currently showing footage of Superman doing battle with what appeared to be a robotic dragon capable of firing lightning bolt-like bursts of red light. Beast Boy, meanwhile, was sitting at a chair nearby one of the supercomputers, and in the midst of, of all activities, reading a book.

The book in question, as it turned out, was an advice book on modern courtship and dating protocol. Under any other circumstances, the changeling would have been more than happy to just wing it out and take his chances and hope for his natural charisma to do the rest. But now, with the second chance in his life of actually having a serious romantic relationship that would actually go anywhere and last more than a brief meeting and cursory conversation now potentially around the corner, plus the fact that he knew that he'd really need to make sure he did things right considering the nature of who he was now considering to take a chance on, he had a feeling that it would be very wise for him to study up. "She may be a world away from most other girls," he thought to himself, "but surely the advice in this book, or at least some bits of it, can still apply to her in some way or other."

Robin discreetly kept an eye on the changeling, and found himself mentally smiling at how seriously Beast Boy was taking the matter at hand. "Considering to how immature I'm used to seeing him act, I sometimes forget how much of a serious romantic he can be when he puts his mind to it," the Boy Wonder thought to himself. "And hopefully that book will be somewhat helpful," he then thought with a brief narrowing of his eyes. "Because if he screws up with Raven, he'll have to answer to me; and that's assuming he's in any state to do such a thing once Cyborg's done with him." And Robin very much intended to make good on this promise, for like Cyborg, he viewed Raven as the sister figure he never had. And as willing as he was to continue helping Beast Boy set things up with her, he was not about to let him get away with any costly screw ups. Raven had already suffered enough, and the last thing she needed was to have her heart romantically broken a second time, and by a person that she'd actually already viewed as a close friend no less.

The main doors to the common room opened, and Robin discreetly directed his full attention back to his newspaper. Beast Boy also heard the noise, and this sound, plus the distinctive scent of lavender and jasmine, was enough to cause the changeling to surreptitiously hide the book he'd been reading and replace it with his copy of the complete Smithsonian Encyclopedia of Animals. Raven had arrived.

Raven calmly directed her gaze around the room, taking note of every detail she could find. With a nod, she proceeded over to the kitchen and silently got to work on preparing her usual morning dosage of herbal tea.

Starfire couldn't help but smile at the sight of the sorceress in the kitchen. "Good morning friend!"

Raven nodded, and gave the Tamaranean a small wave of greeting, one eye still focused on her tea.

Robin let a small smile come on his face, and without even turning his head away from the paper, he said, "Good to see you've finally joined us Raven. We were starting to wonder what was taking you so long." In truth, he had a pretty good idea exactly what had taken Raven so long, but he wasn't about to admit to that in front of Raven just yet.

"Fear no more," said Raven without even turning her head "I'm here now." She finished pouring her tea, and then looked around the common room once more. "Where's everyone else?"

"They'll be joining us later."

Cyborg turned his head away from the TV, which had now started giving news coverage of the Flash being interviewed after foiling yet another scheme by Mirror Master. "We were lucky we had enough room the last time we had this many Titans present at the same tower at the same time. So we made sure to set things up appropriately so that we wouldn't be at risk of overcrowding each other when it was time for bed."

The bionic teen pointed out the window in the direction of where the distinctive T-Ships of Titans North and South were still parked. "Considering how many individual members there are in North and South, they had their ships designed so that they could use them as makeshift headquarters if the situation demanded; so they're currently still on their ships." He pointed in the direction of the city proper. "Terra managed to pull a few strings that would allow her and Titans East to have access to a larger apartment room suite at where she used to live before rejoining us last year just for them. And as far as I know, they're still at that apartment." He pointed down towards the floor. "As for Titans Central, they're still down in the basement."

"Hmm," said Raven. "I see."

"Pity you weren't here with us a couple minutes ago," Beast Boy piped up. He pointed over at the TV. "You missed a real kickass fight between the big blue boy scout and some red lightning spewing robo-dragon."

Robin rolled his eyes. "You certainly gotta give Lex Luthor points for persistence."

"What makes you think it was Lex Luthor?" Cyborg asked. "Was there a Lexcorp logo somewhere that I missed?"

"Cyborg, use your head," said Robin. "From the way Superman reacted whenever he actually managed to get hit by those beams, that robot was clearly designed to breath red sunlight radiation. That factor, combined with the technology likely needed to design it and how much money it probably cost, leaves only 4 villains commonly associated with the man of steel's rogues' gallery as reasonable suspects. And out of those 4, considering the fact that Ultra Humanite is currently still at Stryker's Island, Brainiac was neutralized six years ago, and Luminus practically vanished off the face of the Earth immediately after his final big plot two years before the founding of the Titans, Lex Luthor's the only viable option."

Cyborg thought to himself, considered the entirety of what Robin had said, and then nodded his head. "Fair point."

Raven looked over at Beast Boy, her eyebrow rising as she noticed what Beast Boy had in his hands. "Didn't take you to be the type who liked to read."

"Oh this?" The changeling gestured at the book in his hands. "I just thought it would be a useful way to pass the time."

"Uh huh," said Raven. She turned her head to face Robin, and then walked on over to the Boy Wonder. "If there's anyone who can give me an idea on what to do here in my current situation," she thought to herself, "it's him."

She took a seat to Robin's left, sipped her tea, and then made a discreet hissing noise to attract his attention. Robin turned his head. "Something you want to talk about?"

Raven nodded. "It would appear that I may have a secret admirer."

Robin showed no visible sign of reaction on his face, though he was mentally cheering in victory. "Yes, it's working," he thought to himself. Beast Boy also managed to overhear the conversation from his position, and he let a small smile come on his face.

"Do explain," said Robin.

Raven discreetly looked around. "This morning," she whispered. "I noticed that someone left me a bouquet of black orchids at my bedroom door last night; and whoever it was, really put up a good effort at making sure it wouldn't be too easy for me to determine who it was."

"Oh really?" asked Robin. "Wow, that's some serious skill." He made a show of positioning his head as if looking around, and then looked back at Raven. "Want me to try to figure it out?" Of course, Robin knew perfectly well who was responsible, particularly since he'd been instrumental in helping the guilty party in the first place the previous night and day. But of course, he needed to keep up appearances right now, and he was really just asking out of a sense of formality anyway.

Raven shook her head side to side. "That won't be necessary. I've already managed to mentally reduce the suspect list down to three potential suitors. But still, I wouldn't mind asking you for a bit of advice . . . if you don't mind."

Beast Boy continued to discreetly listen in, anxious to figure out how things would possibly go from here. "Go on ahead," said Robin. "I'm all ears."

Raven took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "How do you think I should proceed?"

Robin raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"This secret admirer," Raven clarified. "How should I respond to this overture?"

"Well I don't think it would be too bad if you don't respond very quickly, if at all, to just this first little overture. Knowing you, and considering how stuff like this naturally works, I'd say it would be perfectly reasonable to wait until maybe at least the 2nd, or maybe even 3rd, such overture before you absolutely should give a response."

Raven thought to herself. "Well I guess that works. But what about when that time comes? What should I do then?"

Robin sighed. "Honestly Raven, I'm not entirely certain myself. When it comes to my love life, I didn't undergo any situations like the one you're currently experiencing. And I doubt that the same process I did in getting together with Star will necessarily work, let alone be appropriate, for your current situation."

Raven sighed. "I guess you're right, but still. . ."

Robin placed his hand on Raven's shoulder in a gesture of brotherly care. "Look Raven," said the Boy Wonder. "I may not be an expert, but the best I can do is say that, whoever this secret admirer is, you'd best at least give him a chance. At the very least, he deserves that much, or at least a response that will keep him willing to stay patient if you still need time to wait and think things over."

Raven thought to herself, and then sighed once more. "Well I guess that's true," she admitted. "But even so. . ."

"Raven," said Robin. "I understand that you're still at some level uncertain about whether or not it's worth making another effort at finding love after what happened with Malchior. But that was three years ago. It's high time you let go of that scaly screw up and look ahead to the future and come out of your shell again to make another attempt. If you really want to be truly happy in life, you can't always play it safe. Sometimes you have to put yourself at risk for pain in order to gain what happiness you truly want. And not to mention, ever since our experiences with your father two years ago, your powers haven't been anywhere near as volatile and in risky business with your emotions as they used to be. I think it will be perfectly safe for you to try to broaden your emotional horizons and make an honest direct second attempt at pursuing a chance at love."

"If you say so," said Raven.

"That's the spirit." Robin withdrew his hand from the teen sorceress's shoulder. "And like I said, don't feel like you have to rush. Feel free to take your time and wait it out if necessary. And if this works for the best, then I'm sure that whoever this guy is, will be the best you could ever ask for."

Beast Boy couldn't help but let a wide grin come across his face upon hearing this. "Why thank you Robin," he thought to himself. "I'll certainly make sure of that." He discreetly directed his gaze towards the Boy Wonder and the teen sorceress. "As long as me and Robin's little plan continues to work as well as it currently is, I could yet put an end to my bachelor status today just in time for Valentine's Day, and with an actually pretty good girl who's both on my team and actually a pretty swell friend of mine to."

"Yes, that's right," the mental voice of the Beast snarled exuberantly. "Claim what is yours. Tonight you shall claim your mate!"

Beast Boy didn't even bother to respond to the Beast's statement. At that point, he was too excited and full of hope to care. For once, things were actually working out pretty well for him. And he sure wasn't about to let anything blacken his mood, not even the Beast.

Meanwhile, Cyborg couldn't help but notice both the conversing Robin and Raven, and Beast Boy discreetly listening in. Upon seeing all this, the bionic teen couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, and then start thinking to himself. "I wonder," he thought to himself. "Just what is going on right now between those three?" Starfire, on the other hand, didn't seem at all aware of those two details, or even the basic area around her as she continued patiently waiting for whatever she was cooking to finish its time in the oven.

The oven timer went off, and Starfire hurried over to check it. She opened it up, and steam popped out before she managed to get a good look at the interior. "Yes," she practically squealed as she slipped on oven mitts and drew out what she'd been cooking. She lifted the metal tray up to her face, and took a deep whiff, exhaling in content. "Ah," she said, "I cannot wait to taste this."

The other Titans managed to catch the scent on their own noses, and they reacted in a much less pleased manner. Beast Boy in particular, thanks to his significantly stronger sense of smell, actually did a rapid gulp, his face turning a considerably darker shade of green than normal, and then turned his head before unleashing an almost strangled sounding gasp that sounded erroneously as if he were vomiting.

Starfire, comically oblivious to her friends' reactions to the smell, started walking over towards the kitchen island, the cooking tray still in her gloved hands. "Come friends; please do have a taste of this remarkable dish I've cooked in honor of tomorrow's festivities!"

The dish in question hardly looked any more remarkable than it smelled. At first glance, and without quite a large number of bizarre elements, it looked like a batch of ordinary lasagna. However, the fact that it was a deep purple, had ugly yellow-green spike encrusted tentacle-like objects sticking out of it, and the aforementioned smell left it firmly established that this was yet another one of Starfire's bizarre alien delicacies.

Robin raised his masked eyebrows at the sight of the dish, then directed his gaze towards his girlfriend. "Starfire?" he asked. "What is that?"

Starfire giggled. "It is a very delightful dish my friends," the Tamaranean responded. She placed the tray down on top of the kitchen island. "It is a batch of the baked Ganeshan Noodle Fish. It is a very rare delicacy." She extended her arms towards her friends, the tray still grasped in her gloved hands. "Please; do try it."

The other Titans looked at each other nervously, uncertain on what to do. Then, as one, Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven turned their heads to look at Cyborg, a clear 'your turn' look on their faces. When Cyborg finally noticed this, he mentally sighed, steeled himself up, and stepped forward to get the whole unpleasant business over with. As Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven half cautiously and half eagerly watched, Cyborg tentatively took a bite from Starfire's cooked up dish.

For what seemed like an eternity, all four of Cyborg's much younger fellow founders watched intently for how he would react. Starfire still had a wide smile on her face, clearly still with high hopes about how her friend would react to her latest culinary effort. The other three Titans, meanwhile, had quite different thoughts on their minds.

"Vomit, vomit, vomit, vomit, vomit," Beast Boy thought to himself.

"Please be mature, please be mature, please be mature," Raven thought to herself.

"Swallow, swallow, swallow, swallow," Robin thought to himself.

Cyborg managed to swallow about half of the portion he'd placed into his mouth, and a very queer expression came on his face.

"It's . . . interesting."

Starfire's smile widened, seemingly not noticing at all how Cyborg's face looked. "Do elaborate friend."

Cyborg mentally grimaced. "Heaven help me," he thought to himself. With a mental deep breath and exhalation, he managed to force down the other half of the portion he'd placed in his mouth, completely swallowed it, and then continued. "It's . . . tough . . . gamy . . ."

"I presume that is a good thing?"

"Oh yeah," said Cyborg . . . a little too quickly in Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven's opinion, but Starfire didn't seem to notice that little detail.

Giggling with pleasure, Starfire did a small victory dance with the tray still in her hands. When she came to a stop at her position that allowed her to directly face Cyborg once more, she eagerly asked, "Anything else you wish to say?"

At that moment, Cyborg suddenly felt a very uncomfortable burning sensation in his throat, mouth, and stomach. "It's . . . very . . . hot."

"Well of course it is," said Starfire nonchalantly. She lifted up her finger as if to emphasize a point. "I specifically made sure that I had plenty of oil from the Agnashkian Volcano Flower available to add a desirably spicy taste to it."

Cyborg's heart plummeted, and his face contorted in a clear mixture of agony and despair. And not only that, but Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven could almost swear that not only did his entire body turn a very unnaturally red color, but steam and smoke seemed to start coming out of his ears. All of a sudden, Cyborg managed to say, "Excuse me," and then he ran out of the common room. Literally seconds after Cyborg burst out into the hallway, flames spouted from his ears and his mouth, and he let out an emasculatingly high pitched shriek as he stampeded off to find a bathroom or some similar source of water to quench the agonizing burning sensation inside him.

As Starfire gaped in stunned shock at what had just happened, the other three Titans just stared in the same direction with a very different look on their faces. For all of ten seconds, Beast Boy and Robin were able to keep a straight face; and then they both burst out laughing. Even Raven found a treacherous half smirk come on her face, genuinely amused at what had just happened. Starfire managed to turn her head to face her boyfriend and his two friends, an almost scandalized look of shock on her face. "Friends!" she yelled. "How can you possibly find such amusement in friend Cyborg's pain?"

"Because it's so bizarre what just happened!" Beast Boy managed to bark out, almost delirious now.

"What he said," said Robin, now beating his stomach with his right fist in an effort to get himself to stop laughing.

Raven sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Oh how I'll miss it if we ever have an entire day without some hilarious disaster or bizarre episode occurring as part of the daily routine right here in our tower," she thought to herself. In fact, there were actually quite a lot of things she'd miss if she ever lost them, now that she thought about it. But now, after her little talk with Robin and having discovered the flowers she'd been gifted with in the first place, she could readily admit that in the event that she actually did manage to get a boyfriend out of all this, and one that actually turned out to be a decent guy who genuinely loved her for who she was, she would not miss the virtual eternity of loneliness she'd felt herself immersed in for so long.

. . . . .

Donald Anderson was not in a good mood. Not at all. In fact, he was in such a black mood right now, that he actually now had to admit that it was a miracle he hadn't gotten into an accident or worse considering how his parents and personal experience had made it quite clear that it was a very bad idea to drive when angry. But sadly, he had no other choice right now. Just this morning, he'd been fired from yet another part time job, and had been unceremoniously kicked off the property and left with no other option but to go right back home.

Eventually, and by sheer luck in his mind, he managed to safely make it back home to the small trailer parked in the forest that he called home. He got out of his truck and morosely walked on over to the trailer, fuming and stewing away in his funk. "Days like these make me so want to put that stupid armor back on again," he growled to himself. He came to a stop at the top of the small set of stairs leading up to the door to his trailer, and he sighed. "First the Titans keep busting me down, then I get virtually screwed over even worse during my brief stint working for that dumb Brotherhood of Incompetence, and now absolutely no one's willing to give me a chance anymore." The 20-year old young man hung his head, sighed once more, and brushed his hand across his short dark hair. "Boy God must hate me." He opened the door, lifted his head, and entered the trailer.

He had just closed the door and started locking it when he heard a voice behind him say, "He probably does, but that doesn't mean that his 2nd born son shares the same opinion."

Donald rapidly turned around, key still in his hand, and a stunned look of shock on his face at the unexpected sound. As it turned out, in the segment of the trailer's interior that served as a combined living room and family room, sitting lazily upon the center of the small sofa within it, was an ominous looking figure dressed in a black cloak. The figure was now remaining seated, gazing seemingly blankly yet at the same time intently at the trailer's natural occupant.

Donald remained where he was, gaping in stunned speechlessness at the unexpected guest in his trailer. However, even while still stunned, Donald was able to carefully look the visitor over. He had to admit, with the black cloak the guest was wearing, there was very little else he could make a note of to identify the figure. The bottom of the cloak reached all the way to the figure's feet, obscuring practically every part of his body. The sleeves of the cloak were so long that they completely covered his hands. And with the hood raised, and the apparent absolute darkness within the interior of it while in this position, Donald couldn't even see the figure's face, save two ominous looking and seemingly pupilless red eyes. These same eyes narrowed. "I trust you won't be keeping your guest waiting?"

Donald snapped out of his trance, and he pointed his finger at the cloaked figure in an almost accusatory fashion. "Who are you?!" he screamed. "What are you doing in my house?! How did you even get in here?!"

"Patience."

The figure lifted up his right arm as if attempting to make a 'calm down' gesture, and Donald managed to notice several holes on the area where the figure's right hand was resting, seemingly indicating that multiple sharp objects had been poking into that area of the sofa while his hand was resting there. "One question at a time Donald, I will explain it all to you in time. And besides, I haven't come here to hurt you anyway if that's what you were worried about."

Donald took two steps backwards. "How did you know my name?"

"Well for starters, you've built up quite a reputation Donald." The eyes narrowed some more. "Or should I say Adonis?"

The figure pressed a button on a device lying next to him that looked like a remote control. A large footlocker lying on the floor to the left of the sofa and under a nearby window opened up, and a hydraulic platform lifted up and revealed a large suit of what looked like some sort of robotic armor lying across it. Donald's eyes widened at the sight of this. "He knows about my armor," he thought to himself worriedly.

"And even if you hadn't yet managed to develop as strong of a reputation as you've currently gotten yourself, it still wouldn't be that hard for me to know about you; and you can thank my boss for that." The cloaked figure got up from the couch and rose to full height. "Believe me, he knows virtually everything there is to know, especially when it comes to the world's villains and sinners."

Adonis's dark eyes narrowed, and he tensed up into a somewhat battle-ready posture. "Well whoever this bigshot boss of yours is, he ain't gonna have anything to do with me! Not if I have anything to say about it!"

"It doesn't really matter whether you have anything to say about it or not," said the figure. He folded his sleeved arms across his chest. "He already has plenty to do with you, and in fact with virtually everyone in this world, including those who don't know it or even believe in it." He pointed his left arm at the young man before him. "And trust me, if he'd wanted you to come to him this early in your life, you'd have already come to him."

Donald remained where he was, his eyes still narrowed. "Yeah? Well who are you working for then huh? The Brotherhood?"

The figure chuckled, and waved his left hand in a dismissive gesture. "That old group of fogies? Please, don't make me laugh. Their time came to a close the minute the Cold War ended, and may have very well been that way even long before then. The only heroes they still show an even remote sign of competence against anymore is the Doom Patrol, their oldest enemies; and even then only because of how much that team's refused to grow up and evolve with the times. And sure, they may have managed to almost succeed in destroying the entirety of the Teen Titans before they could even truly reach their full potential, but only because they were able to catch them unawares and overwhelm them with sheer numbers and the element of surprise. But as soon as the very team they were so confident in their victory over managed to completely join up together and fight back as one, they were so hopelessly hardened and set in their ways that they were just as hopelessly outmatched against the more than willing to adapt and evolve Titans as the Doom Patrol still remains to them. Heck, the only reason why you and all the other villains of the Titans' rogues' gallery that were frozen managed to get out was because the Doom Patrol's leader was dumb and bored enough with the victory to release the Brotherhood from its freezing and all the other villains that they recruited last year had the sense to escape while the Patrol was busy doing battle with the original members of the Brotherhood. And that being said, to make an already long story just short enough to bear, if I'd been among the villains foolish enough to join forces with them, you'd have seen me there with them."

Adonis thought to himself. "Well ok, I guess you have a point there," he admitted. "And in that case, I ask again, who are you working for? Legion of Doom?"

"Not a bad guess," the figure admitted. "But no. I'll give you a hint though, the master I serve does allow them to be unwittingly provided with a . . . spiritual if you will . . . backing."

Adonis grunted. "I appreciate the hint, but perhaps you could give me something better? Like, say, his name?"

"Sorry, but that's need to know." The cloaked figure walked up to Adonis and pressed the tip of his left sleeve against the boy's chest. The young man tensed up involuntarily at the contact, particularly at the uncomfortable feeling of what felt like a small sharp needle-point blade pressing against his chest. "And right now, all you need to know is something currently far more appropriate and worthy of your concerns."

For a moment, Adonis remained wary and uncomfortable. Then his eyes narrowed, and he directed his gaze at the red eyes peeking out from under the hood of his unexpected guest. "Oh really?" he almost spat. "And what would that be?"

"Quite simple really." The figure removed his hand from its contact with the boy's chest, simultaneously folding his arms back across his own chest. "My master has many plans, and right now, he is hard at work. However, he has entrusted me with setting up a particularly well thought out backup plan within a plan; a failsafe if you will; as an ambassador of sorts for him on this plane of existence."

Adonis briefly gazed at the hooded figure in confusion, then he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Ok, not entirely certain I fully grasp the exact meaning of what you just said, but I'm listening."

"I shall simplify it for you."

The cloaked figure extended his left arm towards a nearby countertop within the kitchen area of the trailer, and with a flash of black energy, a newspaper floated off the counter and into the grasp of the likewise glowing tip of the sleeve. The figure unfurled the newspaper and allowed Adonis to get a direct look at the front page, which contained an article on yet another victory of the Justice League against the Legion of Doom. "The failsafe I mentioned? Here's the basic idea. While my master has countless loyal soldiers stationed within the exact same base of operations as him, they are currently just as stuck and reliant on his plans of higher focus as he himself is. That being said, he wants a backup army already in place on this side of reality in the event that he needs one to serve as a means of enacting his goals for him while he serves as the brain controlling and giving orders to them."

The cloaked figure threw the newspaper back onto the counter he had retrieved it from. "Admittedly, I currently have a quite low number of beings among this army in the making's active membership. But for the moment, my priority is to work to find the right people worth adding to this limited roster and boosting it up to a respectable size and strength as befits an army to be led by the one I serve." The figure placed his left hand on Adonis's right shoulder. "And as of now, with the current limited roster I already have, and having already undergone a less than impressive attempt at membership boosting last summer, I've chosen to start out small before eventually working my way up to higher profile targets. And that being said, and quite in spite of your not entirely impressive history, I have decided to give you the chance to prove yourself worthy of actively joining this cause."

Adonis directed a brief glance at the hand on his shoulder, then he looked back at the cloaked figure, and then he lifted his head and thought to himself. "Well, I can definitely say that I'm flattered." He lowered his head to look his guest in the eyes once more. "But you're not the first person I've met who's offered me membership to a team like that with promises of greatness. In fact, the very first, and so far, only, group that I've ever joined was the very one that you were quite vocally taking pot shots at not too long ago."

"Indeed so." The figure leaned his head towards Adonis. "But like I made clear, my master is not the Brotherhood." He lifted his head back to its original position and lifted his sleeved arms up towards the ceiling of the trailer. "And believe me, in the event that you successively prove yourself worthy of membership, and this army truly becomes worthy of being referred to as such, then with me at the helm and my master pulling the strings from behind the scenes, this group of mine will expose that pathetic Brotherhood of Big Bad Wannabes as the shameful clown show that they are even more than they already have, and it will be at the very least an equal in power, strength, and seriousness to the Legion of Doom." The eyes then appeared to take on a form that indicated a wide grin. "Perhaps maybe even better."

The figure then extended both his arms as if making a placatory gesture. "But you don't have to if you really don't want to. I'm a respectable being. I'm willing to let my colleagues in villainy do as they wish, regardless of how competent or otherwise they are. Feel free to choose whatever you wish to do, whether it be active villainy or getting fired again and again from every other simple day job. It's your choice."

Adonis thought to himself some more, carefully considering the offer. Truth be told, he was strongly considering the idea, granted he was also quite suspicious as to truly just how this mysterious figure knew so much about him. But even so, that was hardly the point. "Well, I guess it's worth a shot. I mean, it's not like I've really got anything better to do, let alone anything to lose." He looked the cloaked figure back in the eyes. "Besides, like you said, you're starting out low. And besides, I may not have the highest S.A.T. scores, but even I know that there's plenty of other average Joe super villains out there. I fail, you'll still have plenty of options to search through."

"Your pragmatism is admirable."

"Indeed." Adonis pointed his finger at the cloaked figure. "Name the test buddy. I'm ready to start studying."

"That's the spirit." The cloaked figure folded his arms across his chest. "And as for your test, I do believe you remember Raven of the Teen Titans?"

"Sure do," Adonis responded, almost purring, and with a small smirk coming onto his face.

"How dare you think such thoughts about that scum!?" roared a savage voice inside his head. "She must die!"

"Shut up!" Adonis yelled reflexively, only for his eyes to widen as he realized how easily his shout could have been misinterpreted. He snapped his arms forward in a placatory gesture. "I am so sorry! I wasn't talking to you! I was . . ."

"Don't worry," said the cloaked figure. "I know perfectly well about your little condition. And that being said, I know of a way that you could further benefit from my service." He pointed his left arm back at Adonis. "The robot among the Titans may have managed to somewhat cure you when you first developed it 3 years ago and made you at much lower risk of abruptly changing and allowed it to be less volatile in its ability to take charge. But it is still there, and as much as you were able to keep it repressed over the last few years that have followed, just the right stimulus is still enough to cause it to struggle against you. The green one, on the other hand, has more or less managed to form up a sort of partnership with his primal side, and is able to keep his inner beast considerably much better controlled than the one inside you." He leaned his head forward. "But prove yourself worthy to join my cause, and I could yet change that."

Adonis raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, that just as helpful as you could be in serving directly under my cause, I could be equally helpful to you on a more personal manner than just giving you a sense of purpose and a place among friends. I could help you develop the ability to be more in tune with your inner beast, keep it under control better, and have more of a partnership with it then being locked in an uneasy war of control with it; just like the green shapeshifter from the Titans. And I know you would definitely be more than happy to get the chance to get even with him. In other words, I get a soldier, you get inner peace." He spread his arms to his sides in a 'win-win' gesture. "Just say the word, and the opportunity is yours."

Adonis grinned. "Oh I was sold the instant you brought up that green wimp. I'm definitely game. Name the test." The Beast inside him snarled angrily, but otherwise didn't respond.

"Excellent," the cloaked figure responded. "Now as I was saying, the test will involve that sorceress from the Titans."

"Go on," said Adonis. His inner Beast growled in rage, but Adonis kept it held back.

"Tomorrow evening," the shadowy one continued, "somewhere in this forest, the sorceress will be going for a little late night walk. While she is doing this, upon reaching an area of your choice, your test is to take her down, and if at all possible either capture her and bring her to me alive, or kill her if you must, in which case you bring back her dead body or at the very least a piece of it to present to me as proof of your success. Do that, and I just might very well consider you worthy of joining my army."

Adonis thought to himself. "Hmm, sounds easy enough. Very well, I accept the test; I must admit though, it sounds awfully specific."

"That's the beauty of it," said the hopeful future superior. "I make sure to always give hopeful recruits a unique means of proving their worth. Allows everyone to stay on their toes when dealing with me, and keeps them guessing and thinking critically. The last thing I need is to become predictable."

"Hmm," Adonis thought. "I suppose you do have a point there." He directed his gaze back at the cloaked figure once more. "But I must ask this, is there a specific time you want me to return to you with my proof of success? Even by spirited girl standards, she's bound to put up one hell of a fight. And in the event that I successfully take her down, I'd like to have the time to have a little fun with her beforehand . . . if you know what I mean."

"Whatever happens to her in between the moment you take her down and the moment you meet back up with me is none of my concern. Feel free to do as you wish beforehand, so long as you are able to meet up with me at the rendezvous point before turn of day. And as for the rendezvous point in question, I shall make sure you are perfectly well aware of where to find me before I send you out on your quest."

"If you say so," said Adonis.

"And even in that event, whatever you do in between apprehension and your return to the rendezvous point, do be prudent. The last thing I need is for you take your time to the point of getting careless and allowing for the opportunity for either your target to escape or for any of the other Titans to show up and find you with her. And I'd be especially on guard for her fellow Titans. As of yesterday, all but two of the members among the team's current quite large roster are present in Jump City."

Adonis gulped upon hearing this. "Ok," he thought to himself. "Scratch what I said earlier, this may be somewhat tougher than I originally thought." Then a small smile came on his face. "Duly noted sir, I'll be careful." His smile widened. "I've always enjoyed having a good challenge." Then he thought of one other tiny detail, and his smile took on a clear 'wait a minute' expression. "You said that she'd be going for a walk in the woods tomorrow evening," said the gangly 20-year old boy. "How exactly is it that you know for certain that she'll be doing that, or even in the forest at all, at that time?"

"Don't you worry," said the cloaked figure. "You won't have to worry one tiny bit about whether or not she'll show up, let alone setting things up so that she'll even be in the forest in the first place. I've already talked things out with another potential recruit. It will be entirely his job alone to worry about getting the witch into position for when you strike."

. . . . .

(Flashback: The Previous Day)

It was 8:00 in the evening on February 12, 2018, and a young goth boy was walking home through the rundown and far from pleasant city district that he called home. As he walked slowly along in the direction that led to where he lived, he mentally cursed and snarled in derision as he overheard the sounds of shouting, gunfire, and various other unpleasant activities going on in the area. "Screw them all," he thought to himself. "It's not my fault they live such pathetic lives, let alone that virtually the entire population of this section of the city consists of scum. Boohoo to them; they got problems? They can deal with all that themselves. I've got enough crap of my own." He directed a narrow eyed glare that looked almost like a sneer towards a small diner where there appeared to be several bikers of the standard thug-type build in the midst of a quite painful looking brawl. "Besides; it's not like I have any reason to worry. I may not look like much, but if they tried pulling anything on me, this entire district would be left cowering in fear of me."

The boy spat on the sidewalk, rolling his dark eyes in disdain. "God I can't believe I actually live in this pathetic city. Heck, the most boring town in Ohio would be more worth my time then this dumb place." He snarled, and shook his head side to side, sending his messy black hair billowing around in sync with the movement of his head. "Whatever," he thought to himself. "At least now I'm finally done sweeping around that shoddy old shopping mall and can finally go home, if you can really call it that."

Sure enough, he had now arrived at the front door to where he lived. The building question was a very rundown and virtually condemned looking building that looked like it had once been a hotel or apartment complex. For a brief moment, he turned his head and looked to see if there was anybody watching or following him. This behavior, in his mind, was more of a formality than anything else. After all, as he knew firsthand, this particular section of Jump City was such a large hell hole already that none of the residents would likely even care about what some random emo-looking boy was up to, the local police seemed to scarcely even care about some of the more serious and dangerous criminals that lived in these parts, let alone some teenager squatting in an abandoned building that should have been torn down possibly a decade ago, and the Teen Titans either weren't even aware of how much of a cesspool of crime this section of the city was, or just simply didn't care in light of the all the other events they had to deal with that even he had to admit actually were considerably more worrisome and worthy of their time compared to everything going on in this particular area of the city. But even so, he was not at all unfamiliar with the old saying of 'better safe than sorry', and so he made the effort to keep watch anyway.

He looked back at the door, satisfied that he was being neither watched, nor followed, and he opened the door and entered the derelict building that served as his makeshift home base. Upon entry, the state of disrepair that the building was in became even more obvious from the inside than it had already been on the outside. The boy merely shrugged at the sight. He didn't care, and quite frankly, he'd proven more than once over the entirety of his life spent living in this city that he could more than handle himself in this place. And so, he slowly made his way across the main foyer and up all the way to the area on the fourth floor that served as his official living space. Upon entry to that area, he pressed a few buttons, and smiled when he heard an electronic beep that indicated that the machine had fulfilled its intended purpose of activating the considerably high maintenance and seemingly quite complicated security system he'd set up throughout the entirety of all the areas of the building that weren't the one that served as his direct living space. Chuckling in smug satisfaction, he closed the door and locked it, a noticeable click ringing in the air as the locking mechanism snapped into place.

The boy turned around, observing the area around him. Then he lifted up his arms, yawning in half exhaustion and half satisfaction. He lowered his arms, blinked his eyes tiredly a couple times, and then walked on over towards the area that serve as his sleeping quarters. Upon entering his 'bedroom', he wasted no time in taking off his jacket and shoes, throwing them off to the side the instant they were off his body. Then he took off the black t-shirt he'd been wearing underneath his jacket, leaving him now shirtless and with only his socks and a pair of ragged jeans now keeping him clothed. Not even caring about this, he nonchalantly walked over to his bed, picked up a plain white undershirt lying across the top of the mattress, and slipped it on. Now no longer shirtless, the boy climbed up into bed and lay across it, staring upwards at the ceiling.

For what seemed like an hour, the boy remained as he was, staring blankly at the ceiling of his bedroom. Eventually, a small smile came on his face. "This place may suck butt," he said contentedly to himself. "But it's better than nothing. And besides," he turned his head to look towards an area of the wall that was very obviously boarded up as if there were a secret compartment hidden behind the wooden boards and planks. "One of these days, I'll get both the time and the resources I need to pull off a few more stunts and liven things up."

"That's certainly one way you could spend your life."

The boy's eyes widened, and he bolted into an upright sitting position on his bed in alarm. "Who's there!?"

For what seemed like an eternity, there was no response. As the boy continued to wait, nervously shaking and quite on the verge of panicking, he found himself sweating and nervously flicking his head left and right, his black eyes widened in fear. Eventually, right as the poor boy could have sworn he was on the verge of screaming or possibly even flat out bursting out into a psychotic panic tantrum, he finally heard the voice that had alerted him in the first place respond, "Relax, I'm not in the bedroom with you. Come right back to the main room, right where the entrance to your headquarters proper is located, and we can talk this out like proper human beings."

For a brief moment, the boy remained in his bed, carefully considering and weighing his options. He sighed, and hung his head. "If you say so." He looked back up towards the closed door to his bedroom. "Alright, I'm coming out, but I'm warning you, I'm gonna do it slow, and on guard. So you'd best be patient and not try pulling anything on me."

"I understand," said the voice. "Take your time."

The boy slowly got out of his bed and carefully made his way over towards the door, breathing heavily, and sweating in a mixture of nerves and anger. He reached the door, opened it, and proceeded just as slowly to depart from his bedroom and make his way over to the main entrance room of the 'apartment', just as the being responsible for the mysterious voice had suggested.

Upon arrival, the boy very noticeably paused in his movement, tensed up, and narrowed his eyes in wariness at the sight before him. Standing right in front of the door was an ominous looking figure dressed in a thick pitch black cloak complete with a large hood that completely covered its head. In fact, the only parts of the figure's body that weren't covered up beyond hope of sight were its nightmarish solid red eyes. The eyes in question were right this very moment gazing intently in the direction of the young boy. "Come on now," the figure then said in a calm tone. "I won't bite."

The boy looked down at his feet, and then back up at the figure, his eyes still narrowed in suspicion. Then he looked back down at his feet once more. "I think I'd much rather stay where I am right now," said the goth boy. He looked back up at the figure's hooded face. "Much more comfortable than being literally in the exact same room as you the way I see it." The boy paused, and then nodded his head. "No offense."

The being's left eye moved as if the being were raising its eyebrow. Then the eye moved back into its original position, and the figure nodded its head. "If you say so." The being folded its heavily sleeved arms across its chest. "Very well then, let us talk."

"Good. I know just the right way to start." The boy pointed his finger straight at the cloaked figure. "Who are you!? What are you doing here!? And better yet, how did you even get in here!? That door was locked, I heard no sound of it opening, and there's no way you could have possibly gotten past that security system without supernatural powers or some other form of help!"

"You certainly got all that correct." The boy narrowed his eyes into a glare. "But to make a long story short, I'm not one of those random schmucks running around this trash pit. I'm in a league of my own, in more ways than one. And besides," he looked back over at the goth boy. "You're not the first person my master and I have kept our eyes on."

The boy's eyes widened, his face now practically white from horror and shock. "No," he thought to himself. "He can't be." He looked at the figure closely once again, and then gulped. "No, this can't be happening. There's no way they could have found me!" But at the same time though, he could hardly think of any other possible explanation or way to identify what was currently going on. And besides, from what the unexpected and now apparently quite unwelcome guest in his headquarters had now said about being part of a league, keeping his eyes on him, and also doing the same to others alongside some superior master. . . he carefully took a step backward, his hands raised in a combination of placation and to hint for the figure to stay back. "No," he managed to stammer. "No, you can't do this! I'm not going back there! I can't go back! I won't!"

"Relax," said the hooded figure. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Oh sure you aren't," the boy growled spitefully, his eyes narrowed once again; but with his fear still equally present alongside the small bit of anger in his glare. "You're here to forcibly bring me back to Tibet, or Infinity Island, or whatever base of operations that's been deemed fit for me to be brought to and get me to join back up with you punks again! Or in the event that you fail to do that, to kill me to keep me from exposing any secrets that I may or may not know! Because that's how the League of Shadows works pal! They always carry out their work from the shadows, and they allow nothing about them to reach the light for anyone apart from their own! Ra's al Ghul drilled that into my head just as thoroughly as he's done to all of his other agents and underlings in the league, and no doubt as he's also done to you!"

The cloaked figure sighed, and then shook his head side to side, chuckling slightly as he did so. "I suspected that you'd think I was an agent of the League of Shadows."

"Well of course! That is what you are right?"

"On the contrary," the figure responded. "No. I'm not. And, really, surely my attire would be enough to give that away?"

"It's been 2-3 years since I fled from those freaks," the boy hissed. "They could have yet made some changes while I was away. And even so, you never know for sure what to expect from the League of Shadows!"

"True enough." The cloaked figure lowered his arms away from his chest. "But even so, I can assure you that I am indeed not an agent of the League of Shadows. In fact, if you had any idea just who I actually do work for, you'd be wishing that the League of Shadows had found you here tonight."

"Oh yeah?" the boy snarled. "Prove it!"

The figure chuckled, his red eyes narrowing in pleasure. "You've certainly got spirit." He sighed in content, and then folded his arms across his chest once more. "Even before your death back in 2013, about 5 or 6 months after you first found yourself getting actively involved in the world of crime fighting and super beings, you were always a spirited fellow. Certainly nice to continue to see proof of how that part of you at least hasn't changed."

The boy's eyes widened, and his heart plummeted down to the very bottom of his stomach and then erupted right back upwards and into his mouth. He nervously lowered his finger, the arm in question now very noticeably shaking. "How did you know about that?" he asked.

The figure didn't respond, and the boy started shaking again. "You claim that you're not from the League of Shadows," he managed to whimper. "Yet you know about that! How?!"

"Please," said the cloaked figure. "My master, his underlings, and quite a large number of other beings of similar nature have been playing this kind of game long before the League of Shadows was even a concept." The figure nodded his head, and then directed his gaze at the boy once more. "And believe me, I know plenty more about you from where that came from."

The boy started feeling even more nervous, but he continued to work his hardest at maintaining an outwardly calm and guarded appearance. "Prove it," he growled.

"Gladly," the cloaked figure responded. He gestured his right arm towards the window of the room as if to indicate the area of the city where they were located. "You've certainly gotten one thing right in your thoughts about this hell hole. It's nothing compared to how there are similar districts in other locations, and even in fact more than one entire city that are considerably darker. And just to name an example, the city you were born in and lived your entire life in before your untimely demise was basically an entire city of this district cranked up to 11. And there's another city neighboring your birth city that's even worse."

The goth boy felt his heart start to freeze, but he continued to fight to keep it together.

"But never mind that, back to my original topic. You were born in Gotham City. You lived a relatively peaceful and happy life until your parents ended up quite savagely sent to an early grave when you were 9. From that point onward, you found yourself stuck at the local orphanage until you finally managed to get a new life more similar, yet also quite improved, to the one you'd led with your parents after getting adopted by one of the city's biggest public icons. At the time you were adopted, the man in question had already served as a surrogate father to a boy much like you, in more ways than one, who had ended up running away from home a month or two prior to him finding out about you. In fact, he actually became aware of your existence in a way that would have resulted in you very likely getting either sent to juvie or even flat out killed if it had been anyone else who'd caught you in that particular situation."

The cloaked figure folded his arms across his chest once more. "But nonetheless, you were adopted by this man as his second surrogate son, and when you came to find out about just what sort of things he was involved with, you were quite eager to join up with him. And what do you know, you ended up, just like the first boy he'd adopted, becoming his right hand boy in his activities."

The figure hung his cowled head. "Unfortunately, about 4 or 5 months after your adoption, things took a steep fall downhill. In an encounter with one of your surrogate father's particularly ruthless enemies, you were very brutally, and also quite needlessly, killed by said enemy. And he even had the gall to stick around and wait until virtually moments before your surrogate father arrived at the scene, and was still able to escape from the area before his arrival. But the damage had been done, and it took months for your surrogate father to recover after the experience."

The boy involuntarily shuddered. Even now, as he listened to the cloaked figure's account of the events, he could remember clear as day as if they'd only happened the previous day.

"But fortunately, even though you'd already departed to the afterlife, luck was still on your side. For as it turned out, your killer had been in a sort of partnership with the League of Shadows, and had served as a distraction for you and your adoptive father while they took care of a job. However, Ra's himself was there, and it didn't take long at all for him to come across your dead body long after both his hired distraction and your adoptive father had left the area. And when asked by his underlings present what to do, he knew exactly what he wished to happen. Out of both a desire to atone for indirectly being responsible for the tragedy as a result of being foolish enough to trust such a man as chaotically evil as your killer and a pragmatic wish to get a brand new member to add to the ranks of his loyal followers, he . . . you are familiar with Lazarus Pits I presume?"

The boy nodded. "Every member of the League of Shadows learns of them at some point or other."

"So they do," the cloaked figure admitted. "Well needless to say, you were brought all the way back to Infinity Island. And not too long after arrival, you were quite ceremoniously placed within a Lazarus Pit. And as is to be expected, you were revived, and for the next couple of months, plus a full year after that, you worked and trained diligently and obediently as an agent of the League of Shadows. However, in spite of you having been fully revived, you didn't quite come back 100% correct. Or to be more clear, you weren't entirely the same person you used to be. In fact, it was almost as if your killer had somehow pulled a horcrux and left a small part of his own soul inside you. And over time, as you got entrusted with more and more dangerous and higher profile assignments, you found yourself very dangerously at risk of succumbing to your more . . . unpleasant urges. And so, after one particularly narrow avoidance of succumbing to these urges, you escaped from the headquarters you were stationed at and fled all the way back to your country of birth. And not only did you escape from them, but you've since managed to pull off quite an impressive record of staying hidden and ahead of the League of Shadows in all their efforts at searching for you. You holed up in a somewhat low profile city on the exact opposite end of the country from where you were born, adapted yourself back to living life the way a normal civilian would surprisingly well, and masked yourself in quite a large variety of ways ranging from small alterations to your hair to changing all manner of your old personal information, including your name."

The figure then drew out what looked like just an ordinary wallet from seemingly out of thin air. "Though I must admit. . ."

The goth boy slapped at his pants pocket, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of the wallet, then briefly slipped his hand inside the pocket. Then he pointed his finger right back at the cloaked figure, his stunned and borderline horrified facial expression saying it all. "Hey that's my wallet! How did you . . .?"

The cloaked figure held up the hand that wasn't holding the wallet to silence the boy. "The things you don't know about me and my power could fill more books and libraries then you could possibly imagine." The figure tossed the wallet into the air and allowed it to fall right back upon the hand that had been grasping it. "And trust me, with the kind of sleeves I've got on my cloak, I've got enough room for quite an impressive collection of tricks."

The goth boy remained stunned for a few seconds more, and then he growled and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Well never mind that!" he yelled. "Give me back my wallet!"

The cloaked figure ignored him, and opened up the wallet. "I have to admit," the figure then said as he gazed at the personal identity card within the wallet, "considering who your adoptive father was before your death, plus your own skill in this kind of field, I'm not sure whether or not I should be amused or disappointed in your choice of name. Quite honestly, I'd expected a much better job from you at choosing a new identity to use in changing your name."

The cloaked figure tossed the wallet back to the boy, who eagerly caught it in his hands, turning it around so he himself could look at the identity card, particularly at the area where his false name was written. "I mean really," the figure continued, "the differences between your old name and the one you currently go by are quite miniscule at best, if not flat out nonexistent."

"Well believe it or not," said the boy. "The fact that it's so obviously somewhat similar to my old name is precisely why I chose it." He looked up from his I.D. card and back at the hooded face of his unexpected visitor. "As you yourself made perfectly clear, in light of my skills, changing my name to an alias so obviously similar was the absolute last thing that anyone, let alone Ra's al Ghul or anyone else involved in the League of Shadows, ever would have expected. And as you can see right now, even after the last 2-3 years, they still haven't found me! So obviously it works!"

The cloaked figure remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly thinking to himself. "Hmm, I'll admit, when you put it that way, that actually is pretty clever."

"Exactly," the goth boy purred with a smug cat-like grin on his face.

"Indeed." The cloaked figure nodded his head. "But never mind that. Back to the story. About a month or so following the day you managed to properly fully integrate into your new life here in Jump City, you eventually found yourself unexpectedly having to deal with your more psychopathic urges attempting to resurge and take control even though you weren't getting involved in any situations involving danger or even combat. But then, while at the local pizza place, you just happened to be there at the exact same time as the local Titans just in time to be lucky enough to overhear them privately talking about some of your predecessor's . . . shadier antics . . . from two years prior. And so, using your old skills, you managed to infiltrate their base, and make off with your predecessor's . . . ah . . . outfit and tools from said incident."

The goth boy's eyes widened once more, this time entirely in shock with absolutely no horror whatsoever. In the space of an hour at most, this mysterious figure had revealed himself to be aware of not one, but two, of his biggest secrets.

"But thankfully for you, I'm not here as your enemy. In fact, I'm actually quite willing to help you . . . if, that is, you're willing to perhaps do a small favor for me in exchange."

For a brief moment, the boy remained silent, his head tilted as he carefully thought over what the mysterious cloaked figure had just said and offered. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the boy closed his eyes, and nodded his head. He looked his unexpected and now seemingly actually possibly quite helpful guest straight in the eye, his own eyes open once more. "I'm listening."

And just like that, another chapter done! Once again, I really hope this chapter makes up for the long wait I had to put you through before I finally got it finished and posted! And here's to also hoping that it doesn't take as long for me to finish and post the next chapter (though admittedly, I still require a minimum of 1 review being left for this chapter before I post said chapter, regardless of how long it takes for me to finish writing it). And on another note, here's some notes I'd best have a little talk with you about.

A: I'm sure you noticed that mentioning of Raven reminding Kilowatt of an old friend of his from back where he came from while she was going over all the possible suspects for who her 'secret admirer' could be. Care to take a shot at guessing who this old friend is?

B: Notice how, during Robin and Cyborg's brief chat in regard to the villains capable of being responsible for that red sunlight breathing dragon robot, Robin mentioned Luminus (as in that one villain very similar to the more villainous character to go under the name of Dr. Light first created for Superman: The Animated Series that managed to make one little minor appearance in an episode of the Justice League series)? Well with that in mind, you now have an example of how I plan, for the sake of my fanfiction stories, for the Teen Titans cartoon universe (which I shall remind you, am now actively referring to as the DCTTAU) to share more than one similarity with the official DCAU. And that being said, in light of what Robin said to explain how Luminus couldn't possibly have been responsible for said robo-dragon, he's only half right. Luminus did disappear, but he didn't vanish off the face of the Earth entirely. In fact, the Titans may very well have done battle with him more than once without even realizing it . . . if you get what I'm saying ;).

C: You notice how I gave Adonis a civilian type of name? The name I've chosen to use for him (Donald Anderson) was actually something I've decided to borrow from Jovan2013's 'The Teen Titans Chronicles' fanfiction series. So credit for him people! ^_^

D: You notice how, in the earliest segment of the Master's talk about the goth boy's life, he mentioned something about 'a neighboring city' of Gotham's that's actually even worse? I allow you 3 guesses as to the name of that city (though I'll give you this hint, with the description, it sounds like quite a haven for blood).

E: And speaking of the Master's little flood of exposition, I allow you 3 guesses as to just who 'Goth Boy' actually is (and by that, I mean both his actual name, and the figure he's ended up becoming since his departure from the League of Shadows).

And with all that in mind, once again, I hope you all enjoyed, that you leave plenty of feedback (with an absolute minimum of 1 review for this chapter), and that the next chapter doesn't take as long for me to finish! ^_^

Coming up Next: On the night before Valentine's Day, Robin and Beast Boy allow for the final step of their plan to be set into motion. What could possibly go wrong? :/