-+-A Thousand Shades of Gray-+-

+The Shade of Jealousy+

"If I gave you the truth,

Would it keep you alive?

Though I'm closer to wrong,

I'm no further from right …"

"Truth"

Seether

"So … you're housemates with Trix?" Marisa asked, quite smitten with the charming Milo Arch, already guessing that he wasn't human where his abnormal crimson eyes were concerned … that is … of course, unless he was an albino. However, Marisa highly-doubted that with his healthy tanned complexion and his sly smile or smirk, even his voice was deep and velvety.

Soothing to the ears … Marisa had to faintly wonder if he sounded just as good singing as he was talking. Like a soft wistful lullaby, so very alluring, "Yes, it was actually on a whim sort of thing … I moved into town, needed a place to stay, Trix just so happened to be around the neighborhood and offered to share his humble abode."

Marisa nodded, listening to every word attentively, "So you two must be close friends."

"I don't know about close," faking modesty, Milo shrugged gracefully, "but we are friends, but what about you my dear? Tell me your association with Trix."

"… uh …" Marisa stumbled and gulped, then nervously smoothed back her blond hair, turning away from Milo's crimson gaze. Getting the feeling that with a mere glance into her jade-green eyes he would be able to read into her very mind, so she trained herself to stare at the ground trying to come up with a convincing story, "… um … through Robin, Robin Xander … you know him?"

Milo nodded crudely, "Well enough, ah, here we are."

He stopped at the cracked open garage door; he peeked in making sure he shielded Marisa's view inside as he scanned the immediate area for the X bike. It was under its black covers, and its owner standing with his back faced to them tinkering with something on the tool-table. Pulling the door open he smirked at the human and cleared his throat, to gain his attention, "Trix?"

Marisa stood silently beside him her eyes locked on 'Trix's' back.

X seemed uninteresting in his visitor and never bothered to look over his shoulder, "What now Milo?"

"Oh, nothing much, you just have a visitor," Milo's smirk widened as X scoffed.

"If it's George tell him to get a fuckin' life, I'm off for the day."

Milo chuckled, "Well, don't be rude now, what if George would be standing right beside me."

"Than he'd get the hint and get lost." There was a loud clack as X dropped something, he jerked his head to move his hair from his eyes then bent and picked up the tool, obviously still oblivious to the fact that 'George' was not his visitor.

Milo took pleasure in the clueless-ness and glanced down at Marisa's gaping blank expression, he chuckled again and carefully backed up to make a swift exit as he said, "Trix … it's not George … but a young girl, named … Marisa …"

He whispered her name and immediately X's back stiffened, as realization hit him, spinning around to glare and throw a wrench at the damn grinning beast. Milo was already gone with the silently closing door the only clue to his existence. X made a promise to murder the damn bastard in his sleep tonight, but right now … he set his angered expression on Marisa's petite, feminine body. With her hands clasped in front of her innocently and her jade eyes dull under the dimmed sunlight coming through the opened garage door.

The rain still pouring creating a rather soothing rhythmic sound didn't help to loosen the intense air sparking in between the two. Marisa shyly looked away and glanced out the garage to the drenched driveway, taking in the scent of the rainstorm, she sighed and tried to relax … but couldn't. She came all this way to see him … to make sure he was safe … and now that she was standing before him she couldn't even speak, it was embarrassing, but she had to say something. So she let the words form at her lips, "Hi … Robin …"

"Trix …" he corrected dryly his cold black eyes glaring suspiciously at the young woman standing within his garage, "… the names Trix."

She blushed and bowed her head, "Oh … sorry Ro – Trix … it just sounds strange … why would you change your identity?"

"Many reasons …" X cryptically answered with a slowly forming scowl, his patience slipping with the small talk, so he got right to the point, "… how did you find me."

It was a demand, one that Marisa had to answer reluctantly, "Well, um, please don't be mad, but, I kind of scurried you."

X raised a brow and once again demanded, keeping his tone strictly indifferent, "English."

Marisa sighed and gave up gazing at everything else, but X and looked up at him, shuttering at how cold his expression was she gulped and answered immediately, "Scurried … it's like a homing device, only better."

That's when it sunk in and came back to him, Oh … right … she's a witch … he scoffed and turned his back on her with a roll of his eyes, "So what do you want?"

She took it as a chance to cross the garage to stand beside him, but stopped and finally took notice of the black tarp over what was shaped as a bike … but it seemed sort of funny shaped. Looking closer and observing the tires that were poking out of the bottom along with the rims, she gulped and looked back at X noticing he narrowed his eyes on her, glaring at her from over his shoulder. Marisa kept herself from stepping back out of uncertainty, but advanced. Trying to make it look like it didn't bother her one bit … and failing miserably. Whispering softly, acting as if, if she spoke any louder she'd be killed on sight, "So … it's true … you are, Red X …"

He stared at her for a moment, contemplating, trying to determine if whether or not he should tell her the truth. He huffed in defeated and decided it was pointless to hide it and shrugged, muttering sarcastically, "Surprise … but that doesn't tell me what you want."

"What I want?" she repeated slowly, rolling the words around her tongue, standing mere inches from him, suddenly remembering just how tall her old friend was and how good-looking. It was almost intimidating – correction, it is intimidating – especially now that she knew who he really was. It sent an uneasy shiver down her spine, but it never stopped her from reaching a hand up to rest on the side of face. Pulling herself closer to him, whispering carefully, "Robin … I just wanted to see you …"

On pure impulse she stood on her tip-toes and kissed him full on the lips, throwing her arms up to wrap around his neck. She was relieved when he wrapped his strong arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, melting her into his frame returning the kiss. Fire raced through her entire being, lighting her up like a match as the long distant memories of their forgotten past caught up to her. Marisa sighed and from what seemed like forever, she finally pulled away and stared up into X's eyes.

Despite his signature smirk on his face, she frowned when his eyes were still cold; he chuckled and nudged his forehead against hers, "That was nice …"

Marisa slipped from his embrace and stared dejectedly at the tools on the table, "So … it was her … the Titan, Raven, you really do like her."

She said it with a bit more conviction than X would like to have heard, but he scoffed at the mention of her name and walked away from the Marisa's accusing jade gaze, "Oh, please, she's a Titan, that marks her as strictly off limits … she was just a job."

"Easier said," Marisa blurted, "you can't always ignore what your heart tells you."

"Mind over matter," X snorted and began to suddenly fiddle with mechanics to keep his mind off of the subject, but Marisa was persistent.

"You don't mean that."

"I mean it."

"No you don't."

"Yes, actually, I do."

She frowned and marched up to him, firmly placing a hand over his hands to stop him from working and to have him pay attention to her, she deflected his glare with her own scolding stare, "If it was really mind over matter than you would have kissed me with a little more feeling."

Something flashed across his dark eyes, malicious intent, Marisa should have recognized it and steeled herself for whatever would come out of his mouth, but she was too slow and the words that slipped struck more than just a chord, "I'm sorry, but since when did I ever care about what you felt?"

"…" speechless … she couldn't comeback, but only stared at X in stunned disbelief, "… you … you don't mean that …"

He stared down at her seriously, "I mean it …" he noticed her eyes start to get glossy, the beginning of tears, he turned away with a scoff, "don't start to cry, Marisa. You knew where this conversation was going, and you knew you wouldn't like the outcome. You asked for it."

She started to back away from him, started back for the door; he kept his unrelenting cold eyes on her, as if by will power alone he could get her gone from him. Her eyes closed only to let loose a few tears as her breathing hitched and her small body started to shake with approaching sobs of heartache. X gritted his teeth and forced himself not to care as her usually sweet face turned sour with a nasty scowl and dangerous eyes, "You really don't care … you don't care about what happens to anyone body else but your self! You're selfish!"

X smirked and shrugged, "I look out for number one … tell me something I don't know."

Her lower lip trembled as she shook her head and shouted, "You're such a jerk!" then took off running back into the house, through the den and towards the front exit.

The thief gritted his teeth and returned to whatever he was doing muttering only to himself, "Like I didn't know that already …"

Running the gauntlet of letting Otto, Jamie, and Milo see her distraught leave, Milo snorted in amusement, "Well … that went less painful than I thought it would be. Pity, I was hoping for a fight."

Jamie sneered in satisfaction at watching Marisa leave, "Like it would matter, hell! I can drop the slut in a heartbeat!"

"Easy now," Milo grinned and leaned down to Jamie, capturing her chin within his clawed fingers, she cringed at his touch and glared into his hypnotic eyes, "let's not get too ahead of ourselves sweet Jamie … Marisa comes from a long line of powerful witches and warlocks, who's the say that she can't just put a spell on you … or X for that matter."

Jamie's glare darkened, "Because if she did, than she's going to have to answer to Raven, I highly doubt the Titan will allow for that to happen."

Milo tilted his head in wonder, and released Jamie to cross his arms over his chest, "You seem so sure about that."

"Damn sure." Jamie smirked smugly, "Because I'm going to be the one to tell Raven that Marisa's messing with her man, and I get the feeling Raven's got a jealous streak."

A strange twinkle suddenly appeared in Milo's eye, a sort of cross between amusement and an enigmatic secret, like he knew something Jamie obviously didn't. Otto didn't like it, especially the way Milo laughed and turned his back on Jamie, muttering to himself as he walked away from the couple of humans. Thinking that he spoke too low for any of them to catch, Jamie didn't hear him, but Otto sure did and suspicion only grew. "Oh … you'd be surprised …"

There was something more to Milo than met the eye.

Something more than just his unknown species that disturbed Otto to his very core, the chemist shook his head and dismissed the thought. Then glanced in the direction of the garage and sighed exasperated, Something's gotta give … out of sheer boredom Otto headed for the garage. Jamie plopped down on the love seat, grabbed the remote and happily turned the TV on. Smirking smugly, obviously still ecstatic that Marisa had taken off in such a rush, Otto left her in her own little world as he stepped into the garage and spotted X on the edge of the exit.

Instinct told Otto to stay put, and good thing he did too because as soon as he entered the garage X let loose a stream of blades in a practice round. In perfect unison the blades impaled themselves into the target; Otto smirked when he saw all five hit the bull's-eye … but chuckled when he spotted a flaw, "You're off by a few centimeters."

X scoffed, "Not my fault, for some reason the doses put into making the blades have become heavier, throwing at least one out of every twenty rounds off balance."

Otto raised a curious brow, maybe this was something he could work on to keep himself busy, "Maybe a clog in the belt?"

Black/gray eyes glanced thoughtfully in his direction, but quickly swerved away when Otto looked at him, the thief sighed and shrugged with a frown, "Nope cleaned it out myself just a few minutes ago …"

"While Marisa was here?"

"Of course not … but it doesn't matter anyway, she knows."

"…" Otto nodded, never bothering to push the subject even further, only quietly stood beside his friend at the tool-table and began to help him figure out the problem with the xinthonium core.

A comfortable silence fell upon them, but that wasn't until X narrowed his eyes and glared suspiciously at Otto, "Why are you here?"

Otto blinked, "Uh … because I'm bored? I need something to do."

"Then go take Jamie into town, I'm sure you guys could find something to do."

"I'm not bored enough to allow my savings to suffer," Otto scuffed and shuttered at the thought of Jamie's shopping sprees, they often times set him back a few hundred – thousand – or so dollars. Taking the belt into his hands and scanning it over for damages or signs of usage he shrugged, "Why'd you chase off Marisa like that? You could use the distraction."

The thief snorted, "That's the last thing I need."

"Hmm …" Otto thought aloud with a tilted head, he discreetly glanced at his friend and found him doing something very out of character. He was leaning against the tool-table, shuffling his feet back and forth like a nerves little toddler. Otto's left brow shot up his forehead as X sighed heavily and then gritted his teeth and huffed, pushing off the table he began to pace around the garage smoothing back his hair. The chemist blinked and couldn't help to snort out a stifled chuckle as he muttered, "It'll pass."

"What?" X looked up at her friend, and Otto grinned and winked.

"It'll pass, man, trust me, in a few days without her, you'll have forgotten all about her."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Otto was talking about and X sneered, cringing as he asked reluctantly, "Does it really show?"

Otto laughed crudely, "More than you know … you act as if you're in love with her."

"…" the thief looked away.

"…" the chemist narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing his friend.

"…" the pacing started again.

"…" disbelief was starting to form in a shape of an 'O' on the chemist's mouth, as a shocking realization hit him like a barrage of X blades, "For real …?"

"What?"

"You know what!" Otto's tone raised an octave or two as he put the belt down and stared at his friend as if an alien had landed before him and slapped him just to see if he would do anything in return.

X glared, "It's not like that."

Otto shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, "Mind telling me what it's like then, because it sure does look like it … you really did see Raven last night."

"No!" He immediately denied, a bit too fast for Otto's tastes, but X explained with hesitant eyes, "Well … not the way you think … I did see Raven … but I was no where near xinthonium that night."

"Okay …" Otto nodded in understanding, "… so … you were in Jump, you saw Raven, but you didn't steal anything."

"Nothing."

"Alright then … you saw Raven … where and why?"

"…" X licked his lower lip for a moment in thought then sighed, "… the reason I was late coming back … I had to go back to Hawthorne to pick up a few things, she was there. She was talking to Lola, I didn't want her to see me so I snuck in the back way, but I bet she felt my presence or however her powers work there."

Otto blinked, "So you think she followed you?"

"Not likely …" the thief scowled, "Boy-Wonder's bike was parked in the front … he was probably in there with her."

"So she's wising up," Otto frowned, "she really does intent to track us down and take us in."

"… Wouldn't expect anything less of her."

Otto shook his head and glanced down at the x-belt one last time, then noticed something that had evaded his – and maybe even X's – observation. The switch to the xinthonium core was turned on … Otto narrowed his eyes then glanced at X and changed the subject, "Hey, did you flick the switch on the belt?"

X snapped back to the technical problem and shook his head, "No … I told you, I was no where near xinthonum last night, including my suit."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah … why?"

"Because …" Otto lifted up the belt and showed him the switch, flicking it off the glowing of the chemical dimmed down to the familiar dull glow X was used to, "… I think I just found your reason for the overdose … possible that you might have accidentally switched it?"

"Not on your life," X frowned, "You mean to tell me some shit-head is using my own suit to set me up?"

Otto shrugged, "Maybe."

One word … no … name, came to mind and X growled his name, "Slade … he's got someone else on his side."

((--Later That Night--))

((--Titan Tower--))

VROOM!

The Tower's garage opened and the R-cycle pulled in, smoothly with only one person on bored, rolling up next to the T-Car and kicking down the stand, she shut off the bike and sat up. Taking off the red and yellow helmet she shook her head to loosen her violet hair and sighed as silence reigned supreme within the garage after the door closed shut. Dressed in everyday denim dark blue jeans, a black tang-top underneath a brown high collared leather jacket, Raven dismounted her leader's bike and hung the helmet on the handlebar.

Biting down on her lower lip she turned away from the bike and headed for her room through the stairs, only to come to a complete stop when the owner of the bike she had used stood in between her and her way into the tower. Leaning on the frame, Robin's white mask appeared to glow as he stared down at Raven with an unreadable expression. Although, Raven was willing to bet he was furious … after all, his bike was his baby, no one used his bike without permission and, guess what?

She used it without his permission, and to add insult to injury, she used it to return to Hawthorne in order to speak with the one guy she knew was strictly off limits. Raven relaxed her shoulders and stayed calm, training her voice to be as indifferent as it could be, "I thought you'd be asleep."

Robin pushed off the frame and walked in her direction, Raven stiffened and held her breath when he brushed passed her and went to his bike. Raven turned and followed him with her gaze, but stayed still as Robin glanced at her and asked quietly, casually, "Where've you been … Starfire wanted you to go shopping with you earlier."

"Oh …"

"…"

"…"

"… So … where've you been?" he repeated the question, not threatening or antagonistic at all, he sounded genuinely curious, but Raven knew better.

Should she lie?

Tell the truth?

Pros and cons, pros and cons, Raven gulped, nothing was ever fair anymore, nothing was easy anymore – no, scratch that – nothing was ever fair OR easy when it came to her. It was either all or nothing; she could never have it in between. The sorceress took a deep breath and prepared for the worse, after all, Robin was already threatening her with a dismissal from the Team. What could he possibly do worse? Send her to prison, highly-unlikely, unless he knew who Xander really was.

Raven immediately kicked that thought out of her mind; Robin wasn't that, observant to notice Xander was X. She'd give him credit for entertaining the thought, but Robin was still human, he wasn't psychic. Yet, this was all beside the point, Raven stood there contemplating whether or not she should tell the truth … and … she found that she had no choice. What could she come up with that was convincing enough for him to believe that involved the use of his bike?

Granted he may not like it, but what the hell, the truth always hurts.

"Steel City," she answered, not a total lie considering the fact that Hawthorne was there, Robin could figure it out from there, "… I … uh … went to see if there was any leads on X there."

"Leads …" Robin mimicked, not mockingly, just said it in a confirming tone as he stood closer to her.

Raven didn't move, she stood perfectly still, looking up at him feeling her voice suddenly dimming down to a whisper, acting as if someone from the team might hear here, "Yeah … you know … trying to figure out what X is planning, if it has anything to do with me."

"… Mm-hmm …" he hummed, "… and did Xander, have anything to say about it?"

He figured it out, Raven shook her head, "Couldn't reach him … Lola said he was gone for the day."

Robin snorted, "Convenient."

His tone made something go click in her brain, and before she knew what she was saying it spilled forth and she couldn't take it back, "You know, not everything is a conspiracy, just because X got him involved, doesn't make him automatically guilty of anything."

"Stop," Robin held up a hand and Raven closed her mouth, but narrowed her eyes on her leader as his mask started to darken, suddenly a sick feeling over came the pit of her gut. Robin knew, he didn't have to say it … it was written all over his face … he knew everything, "Just stop it Raven … enough is enough … you could have just told me the truth."

"And then what? What would you have done if I told you everything right off the bat? If I told you I didn't want to leave with you … what would you have done, what would you have thought." Raven immediately replied in a hurried whisper, afraid that her voice would start to crackle to match her crumbling world.

Robin was being too calm about this … he wasn't glaring at her, just staring … staring in disappointment? Maybe confusion? She didn't know! She wanted to know, she wanted him to be disappointed … angry … upset … but to just stand there and let it sink in. She wanted him to yell, she wanted him to grab her, throw her in a holding cell, demand that she tell him everything she knew about X, but, to see him just stand there passively, indifferently. It scared her; it felt like the end of something she had once worked so hard to build.

Only to feel it slip from her grasp … feel it brushing against her fingertips as it slid away faster and faster giving her not a chance of grabbing on and pull it back. She was losing … losing Robin … losing her ground … losing everything. Her life had always been an all-or-nothing gamble … but … she didn't know when it came down her friends and her heart … she didn't know it'll hurt this much.

She bowed her head in defeat as she felt Robin drift away from her, silent as the night, he left her standing still in the cold as he paused at the frame and glanced back to see her violet hair fall over to cover her defeat. His voice was soft, this time, "His real name is Street … his mother is Loe-Laina Marcolas-Street former assassin and daughter to the late Travis Marcolas infamous drug-lord. His father was Jonathan Street, FBI undercover agent sent in to take down Travis; he succeeded and married Loe-Laina, but was gunned down not 5 months into their marriage, Loe-Laina went into hiding … but her son picked up the slack and succeeded his mother's reputation. Even making very good friends with dangerous people, from Catwoman, to Brother Blood, he's associated himself with them all. So tell me … how much did you know about him before you started to take his side?"

Raven looked up and shook her head, "You don't know him."

Robin frowned, "And you do? Raven, I'm your friend, we've known each other for awhile … and you've only meet him at the most a week ago. I really don't get how you can be so torn over this." He sighed tiredly and ran his hands through his spiky hair as Raven gulped down the burning sensation in her throat. Robin glanced down at Raven and gestured with a jerk his head into the Tower, "Come on … it's late, I'll walk you to your room."

Silently, dejectedly Raven followed after him, training her eyes to the ground, making sure to keep her composure in check, taking discreet, slow deep breaths. The sorceress traveled side-by-side with her leader within the elevator, and down the halls to the Ops Room. That was when she received the call. Her communicator went off, Robin, out of habit checked his, but it was a privet line, only Raven's T-com, and oddly enough, it wasn't video, but phone where she had to put it to her ear.

She and Robin stopped in the Ops Room as she took the call, "Raven here, go ahead."

"… It's me …"

Her world flipped, her stomach lurched, and her heart stopped … for a split second everything blacked out and only the voice was heard. That familiar voice, she gulped and controlled her facial expression to only but a blink despite her thoughts reeking havoc on her vocal cords, preventing her from speaking properly. Raven had to take a moment to gather herself up, before she responded and despite the conversation she had with Robin … something told her not to reveal who was truly on the phone.

"Jinx? Why are you calling so late?"

Robin raised a curious brow, Raven watched his face, not too carefully, but she wanted to know if she threw him off the trail. Not yet, he was still suspicious, she had to be a little more convincing, and it was hard when X on the other side grumbled, "Fuck, Robin's near you isn't he?"

"No, I wasn't asleep anyway, what do you want?"

"… Get away from him; I need to talk to you freely."

Raven sighed and faked irritation, Robin was beginning to loose interest and the duo continued their walk towards her room, "You called me for that? Why can't you talk to Starfire?"

"Jesus! Does he have that short of a lease on you, paranoid freak."

"So … and …?"

"Let me guess, he thinks something's up with you and me doesn't he?" it sounded like a joke, but damn it all, he struck gold.

"None of your business."

"… Are you talking to me?"

Raven glanced at Robin as they stopped at her door and Robin sighed with a shrug, "Let me guess, Jinx wants you to go shopping with her tomorrow?"

Raven played it off, "How'd you figure?"

"Besides wanting to know where Kid Flash is, that's the only reason Jinx would call you for a shopping partner … besides, you mentioned Starfire." Robin smirked handsomely as he leaned towards her; Raven instinctively moved back a little, but only a little with the phone still in her ear.

X hissed, "You still there? What's going on?"

Robin snatched the phone from Raven and spoke into it, never taking his eyes off Raven's suddenly panicked expression as he spoke into the receiver, "She'll call you back."

He was about to flip the phone off, but Raven reached for it, "Robin! Wait! No –"

The moment she leaned over him to grab the phone he moved from her reach, he slid his free hand over the side of her face and leaned down to smoothly capture a chaste kiss. Raven, so shocked, didn't move, didn't breath, couldn't even think straight, as her grip on the phone loosened, but not enough for her to drop it. It only a lasted a fraction of a second, but the moment he pulled away he took her breath with him as he turned his back and smirked at her over his shoulder, "There, now you have an excuse to give to Jinx to get you out of shopping tomorrow … I'll take you to a movie … night, Rae."

He was gone … leaving her standing in his wake completely dumbfounded.

Slowly … still trapped in vertigo, Raven gulped and leaned on her door as she brought the phone to her ear and asked in a detached tone, "… Hello?"

"… Do I want to know what happened?" his tone was slow, and skeptical.

Raven shook her head, as if he'd see her, and once she remembered she was talking through the T-com phone she slid into her room and closed the door to lean on it from the inside. Closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and smoothing over her face with her free hand she slid to the floor of her room, unable to stay on her feet. Her brain still reeling from the fact that while she had X on the phone, Robin coming close to finding out when he took said phone from her, and even weirder, Robin kissing her while X was still on the phone.

Raven felt drained … too much, too fast, too soon, she sighed shakily and gulped, "Um … no … not really … but, uh, what did you want to know?"

"… He's gone?"

"… Yeah …"

"…"

"…"

Awkward silence, eagles flew in Raven's belly, did he know what had just transpired?

God she hoped not, she couldn't afford for her life to get even more complicated right now. She called to him, "X? You still there?"

"…" it took him amount to answer, but he did, "Yeah … look, um, I just called to ask if you remember about the Red X incident not too long ago."

Then it hit her, it all came back to her, why she risked going to Hawthorne in the first place! She jumped off the ground, her violet eyes narrowed as she glared at the ground, imagining it was X as she began to pace the room, "Of course I remember it! You nearly killed Starfire! What the hell was that all about!"

"HEY! Don't take it out on me alright, I never did anything that night, I wasn't even in my suit!"

Raven's glare darkened, "Then why didn't you come to me when I was at Hawthorne?"

"So what? So you and your boyfriend can haul my ass down to prison? Hell no."

Out of that whole sentence, the only thing that caught Raven's attention was the 'boyfriend' comment, "Boyfriend? What boyfriend? I went by myself!"

"Bullshit!" Raven wasn't going to hide it, she jumped when he snapped harshly at her, "I saw the R-cycle, you went with Robin!"

Taken back by his animosity she argued, "So you saw the bike and you immediately assume that I was with him!"

"Weren't you!"

"No! Just because he has the bike doesn't mean he's the only one who knows how to use it! I may not like the thing, but it's practical. Besides, what's your problem if he was with me or not, I just wanted some answers and you weren't there! So how the hell do you explain the coincidence of your absent and your arrival at Logan Science Lab." Raven snorted as she headed to her window to glare out at the city, but instead found herself glaring at her own reflection, willing it to morph into X's form as she heard him growl in frustration.

"Someone's impersonating me! Using my own suit to set me up."

Raven found her anger didn't allow for her to give in so easily, "Likely story, where you're concerned X, you better give me something better because I'm not going to put my ass on the line for you anymore."

He repeated her, "Anymore? Who the fuck asked you to protect me anyway, that's your own goddamn fault if your boyfriend wants to kick you off your precious team, not mines."

Raven gritted her teeth, "For the last, time, Robin is not my boyfriend."

He scoffed, "Didn't sound like it from here. He kissed you didn't he?"

Raven was quick to deny, but stopped and fumbled, he got her on the ropes, and for some strange reason or the other she suddenly felt guilty, "… It's not what you think."

"Yeah," he snorted, "that's what I thought. Look, I just wanted to set the record straight, I didn't do anything that night. I may be a thief, but I'm not fucking stupid."

"Ro – hello?" he hung up; Raven stifled a scream of frustration as she tossed the communicator to the side and walked to her book shelf. Leaning on it she bowed her head and pressed her forehead to one of the shelves and fisted her left hand to place it on one of her old books. Gently banging her head against the shelf she growled and muttered to herself, "I didn't do anything wrong! He's the damn criminal not me!"

Coincidences were a bitch.

Just as she said it the alarms went off, Raven glared at the red flashing light and wished she could just shoot it, red had just become her most hated color just under pink and before neon green. Seeing no time in changing her clothes Raven phased through the ground and came up in the Ops Room in time for Robin run passed her to the compute. He didn't even have to say anything for her to know who it was, but he did anyway for the sake of their other team mates.

Scowling Raven waited for him to say it, so say his name, "Slade's cronies are robbing a bank, Titans! Move!"

Slade?

She honestly wasn't expecting that …

Raven's mouth cracked open in a suspicious gape as she stared at the screen; the other Titans rushing passed her in hurried urgency, Robin in tow. He stopped just a little behind her and called to her, "Raven …"

Raven blinked and looked back at him as he jerked his head to the door, "Let's go."

Easy for him to say, but somehow Raven found the power to move her legs and run along with him to the garage, the T-car's passenger side door was open and waiting for her. She went to it, but Raven grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to the bike, he got on and handed her an extra helmet. Raven took it skeptically, giving Robin a long hard look, he nodded to confirm her silent question and she shook her head, but put the helmet on.

Everything about this was so wrong … so wrong, but she slid in place behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist as he started the R-cycle and lead the way to Slade's robbery. Within the T-car, Beast Boy slid to the front and slammed the door shut for Cyborg to quickly catch up with Robin and Raven. Beast Boy scratched his head and voiced out what everyone else in the car was thinking, "Robin … packing Raven … and Raven out of uniform? Something's wrong with his picture."

Cautiously he glanced back at Starfire to find her staring out the window in patience … indifferent patience. Trying to ignore the fact that her best friend and leader were together, she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed tiredly. Beast Boy glanced at Cyborg and Cybrog shrugged his shoulders as if to let the subject drop for now. Beast Boy caught the hint and cleared his head for an upcoming Slade battle.

In a short time the Titans arrived at the held up bank to catch a few Slade-drones running out with bags of cash. Robin took the lead and popped a wheelie, forcing Raven to hold on even tighter as he ran down one of the drones with a vengeance. The drone held no chance, skidding to a stop; Robin pulled out three bird-a-rangs and flung each of them to the ground just in front of the bank. The weapons exploded and momentarily stalled the drones who saw nothing coming as the rest of the Titans pulled up and cleaned up the mess. Robin dismounted, and so did Raven both of them eagerly joining in on the battle, Robin hoping to get face to face with Slade.

Raven … on the other hand … as anxious.

Was X here?

Was he still working with Slade?

What did Slade want?

Was this just a diversion?

Questions raced through her mind as fast as Robin and X could push their bikes to the limit and none of them had any answers, so she threw to the back of her mind and took care of business, levitating in mid-air eyes glowing she chanted, "Azarath … Metrion … Zinthous!"

Grabbing a lamp post she swung it, and on cue her team cleared the way for her to knock out a few of their former opponents, wrapping the pole around them like rope she dropped them tied up and ready to go. Leaving room for her team to rush into the bank and take care of stragglers … Raven followed, but felt the linger signature of Slade's aura. Taking the chance she followed it into a dark alleyway. She stood at the mouth and her heart stopped a fraction of a second when she saw a shadow run down the alley and make a left turn.

The shadow must have been about the same height as X … but she couldn't be sure.

Hesitantly she flew down the alley after the shadow, arriving at the turn she looked left and found the man, too tall to be X standing in front of an impossible to climb brick wall. Raven glared, was it all really that simple? She called out to him, "Slade …"

He turned around and his mask mocked her with that one left eye of his, smirking under the dim light of the dark city, he straightened himself out and Raven felt him grin. She shuttered as his voice sent an eerie chill down her spine, "Ah, good evening little Raven … I trust you're doing well."

"Save it, what are you doing here."

"More direct than usual … seems like X left an impression on you … that boy always disappoints me, he has such greatness in him."

Raven was not liking where this was going, so she tried to discreetly reach for her communicator, only to stupidly realize that she had thrown it and left it somewhere in her room after that argument with X. She cursed herself for being so stupid! So she bluffed it, stalling until one of her friends got here, "Last time Slade what do you want."

"Money."

"…"

Too easy.

He chuckled, "Why so speechless? Feeling a little vulnerable without your communicator?" Raven's breath caught, he knew, and he mocked her still, "Don't panic, I'm not here for you … my interest was lost since X ran from the apartment I had been monitoring you in. He's very elusive … it's aggravating really."

Huh … am I … am I hearing this right …? The apartment … that was where the Dago family came for X … Slade had no idea where we were then? Raven kept her face blank, just incase her theory was true … so she tried to coax more out of the madman, "So are you saying X is smarter than you?"

Slade stepped up to her, Raven planted her feet in the ground, determined not to give him the luxury of seeing her unnerved as he glowered at her, "No … but if I dare say he's worse than you vigilantes, he's a nascence with that conscious of his."

Raven glared, "So as soon as someone has the volition to choose their own path and go against the otherwise twisted poli-tricks (a/n: politics, get it?) in this world, they become an outcast? That's ironic coming from the likes of you."

He stared at her … long and hard as if contemplating her words, and when he seemed to piece something together, the air about him honestly frightened Raven. He chuckled in amusement, "Well said child … if I didn't know any better I'd swear you were not only defending this thief … but … you admire his freedom. Why? Oh I can theorize that maybe it's because … you envy that freedom. You envy his courage to go against moral society, you envy his control to know what's right and what's wrong, but most of all you envy in him the fact that he can be criminal … without being a villain, because, let's face facts here my dear.

"You're a demon … if you suddenly decided to trade in your badge for a couple of stolen diamonds, you wouldn't be labeled as just a petty thief … you'd be seen as a threat … a monster with malicious intent. Isn't that why you were so quick to become a Titan? You wanted acceptance so bad, that you forced yourself to be a good girl in order to gain trust in the people around you, hoping that they can see through your demonic blood to love you for who you are. But, of course, this is all in theory … we both know that you have a good grip on reality, I'm a villain trying to manipulate your train of thought, you're the hero that'll fight to see to it that people like me don't ever see the light of day again."

"…"

He leaned into her ear and whispered chillingly, "That's reality … Raven … there is no shades of gray to that black and white print. Have a good evening …"

He left … Raven had no idea what had froze her in place during his entire break down of her otherwise chaotic mind. The sorceress shuttered, and spun around in search for the villain … but found nothing. He was really gone, not a trace whatsoever. Gone. Leaving her to doubt her abilities as a heroine, if she couldn't even fight against Slade's mental psych-out what good was she?

But at least the night wasn't all for naught … she knew one thing was certain.

Slade wasn't Slade the entire time she as with X at Hawthorne Garden Court.

Someone was playing puppet master …

And Raven didn't like them pulling her strings.

((--))

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

a/n: IMPORTANT: Finals are coming up for me, so please be patient if I don't update as fast as I use to, it's just math is seriously kicking my ass and I'm so close to repeating the class that it's not even funny. So please excuse that major errors as well, like I said I got to get my school out of the way first so I don't feel pressured to keep up with the stories I write.

I love you all for your support and really appreciated all the reviews, I'll see what I can do to get the next chapter update, in the mean time, just like this one sink in.

L8er daez