New chapter! YAY! And...I'm thinking of changing the title of this fic. It was an impulse name, just something to have on the title. Sooo...any nominations or ideas? Don't worry, if your idea sucks, I won't say...I just won't use it, LOL! Sorry...I'm MEAN today...

Chapter Eight

"Do you mind if I make this call in private!"

Victor watched stoically as Changeling paced the small communications room, cocking his head when the green man burst out that little question. He smiled grimly. "Don't want me to hear your super secret spy talk with your overly manipulative condescending parental controllers?"

Changeling stopped pacing and stared at Victor, his old child friend, and one of the few people he'd ever truly loved, in a completely heterosexual way. "Wow...been reading Raven's books again?"

Victor let a small sheepish grin loose, before becoming stone-cold again. Garfield was not to be trusted any longer. "No."

"I guess I should tell her then?"

"No."

"I think I will."

"..."

"I wonder if she knows you've been in her room."

"..."

"I bet you raided her panty drawer. Maybe I should tell her..."

"I'll leave you to your call."

Victor beat a hasty retreat, fully intending to stand outside and eavesdrop, only to get distracted by Kory walking by with the Teen Titans, intending to show them to some temporary quarters. Behind him, Changeling drew out his phone and dialed an untraceable number.

Martian Manhunter answered. "Changeling. How was the re-assimilation into the Titans received?"

Gar worked that out in his head, and answered softly, "It was encountered fine. I'm not bleeding, which means it was good."

"What did you find?" A new voice asked, calm and assured as only Batman could be. Batman, who without showing it, was eager for any news of Nightwing, the prodigal apprentice who'd been estranged from the Black Knight for going on four years now.

"The Teen Titans. And no, it's not a new team. It's us."

Another new voice, this time of Superman, the Man of Steel himself. "How is that possible?"

Gar sighed. "You knew Wally was here."

Wonder Woman was shocked when she asked, "He's helping them?"

Gar nodded, then realized that they couldn't see it...well...most of them couldn't see it. Martian Manhunter just might. "Yes, he's helping them, but we've got a bigger problem."

Superman again. "What?"

"They're telling the truth."

Silence.

"I encountered the "invisible criminal" myself."

Batman asked aloud what they all were thinking. "If they're telling the truth, they might have been telling it then."

Superman shot that down. "It doesn't matter what truth is anymore. They killed. They cannot be trusted." Everyone took that with a grain of salt given that it was Superboy, Superman's clone, that they'd killed. By Starfire's own hand, Connor had died, though honestly, this was a Superman incarnate. Until he died, Connor had fought, and fought hard. Taken out Raven, Cyborg, and Kid Flash (permanently) before Starfire and Nightwing had even gotten to him.

"How long do you want me to stay here and watch them?"

Silence again, but now the kind that was rife with unrecognizable murmurs. "They have the teen Titans there?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Yeah."

Immediately Superman spoke up. "That breaks rule 3a of the Meta-Charter. No underage justice activity. We could bring them in now." And he only sounded so eager to do so.

Gar spoke up. "Technically, they're not here. They're in the past. They're just manifesting here."

Batman's intrigue was clear even over phone. "You're defending them?"

Gar didn't say anything.

"I'd have thought you'd have realized where your allegiances were, Gar. Perhaps we should reconsider your place in the League. Maybe you can't be trusted," Superman added.

"I'm trustworthy."

"How can we tell when you're so Titan-friendly at the moment?"

"Get your damn cameras to zoom in, Batman. There is no friendly-ness here. They don't accept me anymore than you do."

Wonder Woman's voice was soft when she spoke. "Torn between two worlds. A situation I can identify with."

There was a comfortable silence for a moment, before Martian Manhunter spoke. "Check back in a few hours. We'll speak again then."

Gar hung up the phone, and knew that even now the impregnable four, once five (with Flash), were even now discussing him and what was happening. Wouldn't do to have one of their most-promising new members to give in to old relationships and teams. The Justice League stood alone, and it's members were required to do the same. There could be no prejudice or leniency. It was the only way being a world power/police force could work. The Justice League made all the decisions these days. Garfield worked with them; because it was the only way he thought he would survive this fascist world.

The Titans had never understood that, or the danger they posed to the new world regime. He could only hope that they'd figure it out before it was too late.

Raven watched as Kory took the Teen Titans on a tour of the new Tower, working her way to their temporary quarters. Victor, who'd been following them for a bit, broke apart to stand with her.

"What are we going to do?"

Raven raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take your for the pessimistic type."

"I don't mean in life, Rae, I mean for this plan. What's the next step?"

Raven cocked her head, and smiled a little. "There used to be a time when I wasn't in charge. When you gave the orders."

"Yeah, and with this metaphysical shit, I don't want to be. Tell me what to do."

Raven nodded and turned from the amusing sight of Starfire (young) and Starfire (old) oohing and aahing over the beautiful Tamaranian flowers that populated the indoor garden and studied the Cyborg next to her. "We'll close down the Tower, down to two floors. This one and the one above. Father Time will come for you, that much we know. He needs to information locked in your head, and, unfortunately, he has enough skills and resources that I don't doubt that with enough access he could get it."

"Where do you think he is now?"

"Off licking his wounds. Chronin radiation, when in enough quantities and for a long period of time starts a premature aging process. He's starting to age quickly, and in random spots and periods. He's feeling the pain."

"And them?" Victor nodded to the Teen Titans.

"They're our eyes and ears. They'll tell us when he's here. We'll take care of the rest."

Victor nodded. "Permanently?"

Raven jerked her head back to Victor. "No."

"No?"

"No."

"No."

It wasn't needed to say it. They couldn't kill. As tempting as it was, in this day and age, it wasn't right. Once didn't make it right. The problem was, of course, that heroes are a direct mirror to the criminals they faced. As the criminal element of this world grew more violent and dark and evil, the heroes that fought them took too directions. Some went more opposite, growing more pacifistic and light, generally more good. Instead of that, the Titans had followed that criminal element, becoming darker and more violent. Raven had been aware of that fact for a long time, but even she didn't know how to change what was happening.

Raven smiled a bit to herself, stepping away from the stairs and starting into the Tower. Victor followed. "When will Nightwing and Arsenal be returning?"

"They're checking in with the Outsiders, and will return in a few hours."

Victor nodded. "Start locking down the Tower?"

Raven nodded too. "Check it, level by level. There shouldn't be anyone up there, so any lifesigns, you know who it is. Check in every fifteen minutes." She walked away, her senses telling her that Victor turned back and was heading for the elevator.

Raven entered her quarters, hesitating just inside the doorframe. It was still dark and moody as ever. The only real thing different were the few belongings that now lingered there, the ones that weren't her's.

There was an arrow lodged in her bathroom door frame, a set of brass knuckles on her desk. Boxers on the floor, shoes in her closet, and a man's undershirt lying in the rumpled bed sheets of her bed. None of them her's, but she appreciated their presence there.

All the troubles and issues of the day pulled down on her, and silently she sank to the floor next to her wall, leaning into the wall for comfort. There was the scent of roses lingering there, wafting over from the dozen that sat in a small vase, brought to her by Roy several days ago. Raven didn't know how she was going to tell him. How could she?

How could something so casual, yet comforting, turn into something so terrifyingly permanent? When had it happened? How would she handle it?

Raven lay a hand on her flat stomach. This was proof, you know. No matter what, life goes on. Unbiddingly, "The Circle of Life" began playing in her head. God, Raven's sense of humor was such a bitch sometimes.

She loved him. Roy. It wasn't the all-encompassing passionate love she'd felt for others. It was safe. Controllable. Something that existed but didn't make her exist. She could go on without it. She'd just rather not.

Outside her door, she felt the rumbles and reverberations of four sets of teen feet, and one set of adult alien, stampede past, the walls shaking just a bit from the passing.

With a small laugh, Raven leaned her head back and watched as the illusionary stars on her ceiling winked and danced. Pitter-patter of tiny feet, indeed.