II

Trust

The eleventh hour had crept up on Raven as she finished her morning meditation. She made her way down the hall, an old book in tow. Everyone else was already up and in the recreation area. Robin was at the sink on dish duty for the morning. Cyborg was sitting at one of kitchen tables, leaning back with his hands behind his head. Raven went to the fridge and pulled out an apple for breakfast. Brunch, really. She made her way to the sofa next to where Starfire sat, when she noticed the low engine rumble coming from her lap. There, a small, green kitten lay on its back, front paws stretched up. Starfire was humming some song as she scratched and petted the kitten's fur. The purr got louder.

"That is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen," Raven deadpanned. She began walking to the other side of the rec room. "I think I've lost my appetite," she finished, dryly.

Beast Boy morphed back to normal, causing Starfire's expression to bloat. "Ha-ha! Very funny, Raven. Real classi-augh!"

Starfire gave out a quick shriek and stood up. Raven heard, more than saw, Beast Boy land with a 'cloomph' on the floor in front of the sofa. "Beast Boy," Starfire began, "might I ask that you next time give fair warning before you do that."

Beast Boy stood up, slowly. He rubbed the back of his head and gave an overcompensating smile. "Erm…my fault. I usually jump out of people's laps before I…um...Sorry…"

Raven was glad her back was turned as she made her way to one of the tables on the other side. She afforded herself a smile. She reeled the emotion back in quickly as she turned and sat down, opening her book. She'd read it before, but this one was appealing to her. It was of a young mage finding his father in a mystical realm and the wisdom and experience he gained along his journey. The book was dark enough at certain points, but with a pleasant enough ending. She enjoyed the book mostly for the plot twists throughout.

"Stay up late, last night?" Robin inquired.

Raven looked up with just her eyes. She could sense Starfire's peaked interest in the question. She could see it on her face as well. "Yes," she finally answered.

"Weren't you up pretty late the night before?"

"Yes," Raven answered, keeping her head in her book. I can see this turning into twenty questions…

Robin put the last dish he'd been cleaning away. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the other night, would it? When you decided to walk back without us?"

Again, Raven looked up from her book, directly at Robin. "No." She went back to reading. I was really hoping he wouldn't ask about that. Should know better by now. Robin wasn't trying to interrogate her. Raven knew he was simply curious about the combined events. It was his nature to try to put the pieces together.

"Um…Robin?" Starfire chimed in. It took a bit of effort on Raven's part to keep from looking up. She didn't want to indicate an interest as Starfire started talking. However, she had ceased reading her book. Only read the same line three times now and still haven't made sense of it.

Starfire continued. "Perhaps we could spend the afternoon practicing our new double-team flight maneuvers. We did not get to use them effectively the last time. I…feel like we could try to…improve our approach."

Robin looked at Starfire. "I'm not too sure we can get it any better." He walked out of the kitchen area and near the hallway entrance. "But, if you really want to get the practice in, I don't see why not."

Starfire nodded with a smile and made her way up the steps next to Robin. Both proceeded down the hall and made their way to one of the larger training rooms in the tower. Raven, still trying to read her book, found the situation interesting. Starfire very blatantly changed the topic of conversation. It wasn't as if she didn't appreciate the save, but it brought up a point. Now, there were two of them that knew more than she wanted.

It didn't really matter. She wasn't about to divulge anything she didn't want to either of them, and as much as the multiple questions annoyed her, she could keep it up as long as she needed. At the very least, she could let her 'irritation' out a bit more. People usually backed off after that.

"So…what do you think?" Beast Boy said, interrupting her thoughts.

Raven half-grimaced. That boy better not be talking to me.

"Raven?" Beast Boy said again. "Hey, Raven, I'm talking to you!"

Raven kept her head down in her book. Her eyes, however glared up from under her brow. "What?" she quietly spat out.

"Come on!" Beast Boy started. "Put the book down and get in on the conversation! I was saying, Starfire and Robin, like, heading to the training room. Aloooooone? Do you honestly think they're just gonna train in there?"

For Azar's sake, not this again. "What are you getting at, Beast Boy?"

"Um, hello! It's, like, totally obvious! I mean, come on! You been buried in those books the last couple of years? Don't tell me you haven't been noticing, I won't believe you. Didn't you even point it out once?"

Raven lifted her head a little more. "All of us notice. All except for them. They can't even admit it to themselves. How do you think they'll admit it to each other?" She went back to her book. "Trust me. All they're doing in there is training. Try not to let your imagination run off with your brain."

Cyborg began a low laugh. "She's right. Those two are in such denial, even to themselves. It is kinda funny."

"Hey, maybe we could…you know. Help them along? Sorta set 'em down the right path and all?"

Raven looked back up at Beast Boy. I am never reading this book…

"No, really! We could set up a date! Invite them both to a nice, quiet evening without the rest of us home! We could write notes addressed from the other, and by the time they realize they've been had, they're already in a romantic setting. Dimmed lights, soft music, candle-lit dinner. It's pure genius!"

"Naw," Cyborg interjected, "that's about as cliché as it gets. They ain't dumb enough to fall for it."

"What about you? Huh, Raven?" The Titan put his hands to his hips in pride, looking at Raven for approval, his 'sell-it' smile wider than his face would allow.

Raven simply stared back. She continued her stare until he fidgeted just slightly. "Let them be, Beast Boy."

"Ugh!" Beast Boy scowled, dropping the act. "You people are no fun."

Cyborg simply laughed a little louder. Raven looked up at him with a partial smirk. Who's not having fun? Cyborg simply winked back with his human eye.

-

-

The side of the stair shed opposite the setting sun began to grow darker than the shade normally allowed. Quickly, it opened up into a large spiral of black. Raven stepped onto the rooftop of a building she only recognized as being near the coastline. She walked around to the sunny side of the shed, walked to the end of the rooftop facing the ocean. Zerrich was standing there already, hands clasped behind his back.

"You're late," he said.

"You going to fire me?" Raven quipped.

Zerrich didn't answer. He continued to look out over the ocean. "I like your sunsets. They're a little different." He gestured out towards the ocean, hand down with his fingers out. "I think it's all the blue. In the sky and the water. Plus there's no heavy cloud pattern or rain to get in the way of the coloring. That's sort of what I'm used to. That or orange and red all across the sky because of the atmosphere. You can't really tell sunset from midday…except for the fact that it's getting darker."

"You called me here to watch the sunset," Raven stated more than asked.

"Actually, yes. That's exactly why I called you here."

She let the sentence hang there, an annoyed expression on her face. Not that he was looking in her direction anyway. "I'm leaving," she finally muttered, walking back to the shadows.

"You're not going to want to miss this," he said over his shoulder.

"I think I'll be able to sleep tonight," Raven countered.

"At least facing that direction, you won't miss it."

Raven stopped, closing her eyes. I hate him…

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Give it about…" Zerrich's voice started getting closer, though she couldn't hear his footfalls, "…twenty seconds or so. Thinking about it, being late worked out. I know how impatient you get."

That'll happen when you keep answering in riddles. Raven couldn't help but reflect. She usually didn't give straight answers to questions asked about her business either. However, this was very different. Zerrich wanted her to know these things. That, and she usually left all the details out when answering a question she wasn't particularly fond of. A few more moments passed, and nothing spectacular jumped out at Raven from anywhere. She actually expected this. Whatever Zerrich was harping about, it would fit to be subtle.

"There." Zerrich pointed over Raven's shoulder towards the green mountainside at the far-off edge of this part of the city. She scanned it and found nothing of interest. At first. As time went on, a slight glimmer--more of a wavering--started to affect a portion of the mountain. It almost looked like the heat waves off a hot road. Except, the effect was too collected. And there was no road.

"Thought you might be interested," he said from behind her.

"What's up there?"

"Couldn't say," Zerrich answered. "But they really want to stay hidden. That field seems to be affected only when the sun's about…well, right there. Otherwise, they're pretty much out of sight."

Raven turned around and looked at Zerrich. With the sunset silhouetted behind him, she noticed something. The spikes of his hair took on a purple glow as the light passed through them. She'd originally thought his hair to be black. In fact, it was a deep purple. The color never showed itself, as they had always met at night. "So, why didn't you check it out on your own?"

"You kids are the heroes," he shrugged. "Besides, I'm not officially here at the moment. Rather not bring attention to myself if I can help it."

"Right," she said, dryly. "I'm just trying to figure out why you're showing me this."

"I see," Zerrich replied. "Guys just can't be nice, I suppose."

"I still don't know what your motives are," Raven said. "You have to admit. It's an odd coincidence. Of all the people to find this out…" This could be some trap…

"You could let it sit," he answered. "Check them out, see what they do. Act on it later. Of course, if they're planning something and get it going before you make your move…"

"Then things get messy," Raven finished.

"That might end up forcing me to get involved. I'd prefer not to have that happen."

"Uh-huh," Raven sighed. "You want us to take care of this, so that you can stay hidden. That's all this is about?"

Zerrich looked straight at Raven. "You keep treating me like I have some ulterior motive," he chided.

Raven didn't flinch. "You can stop feigning innocence any time."

Zerrich leaned over to the side of Raven's hood. "No one's innocent," he said in a lower voice. When he pulled away to turn around, he was smiling. "That was all I had to show you. Feel free to leave when you're ready." He walked back to the end of the roof facing the sunset.

"Gee," Raven deadpanned, "thanks for the permission slip." With that, Raven wasted no time heading back to the shaded side of the stair shed.

-

-

There was the collective noise of the team coming out of the rec room as Raven walked through the corridor. Considering the time of day, Raven figured it was over what to eat or where to go out for dinner. She almost took a cynical pleasure in bringing the news. Maybe it was part of her nature. Or, it was simply the idea that once she interrupted them the squabbling would stop.

"Raven!" Cyborg shouted over everyone as she entered the rec room. "Just the girl I wanted to see. Kay, B here wants to go out for Pizza. For, like, the second night in a row. Star's up for Chinese and Ice cream." Cyborg paused for effect. "Don't ask. Now, I'm up for some burgers. Rob's got my back on that one. So, the way I see it that's two against one against one! Y'think you could explain the whole 'majority rules' thing to these two?"

"Well, how about we ask what Raven wants to eat?" Beast Boy countered.

Raven looked at the group. "We'll have to cancel. There's a possible…situation over at Knight's Hill."

Cyborg's expression went dead. His stomach growled in protest. "Oh, you had to go an' say that, didn't you?"

"I'd like to scan the area if we can," Raven continued, without breaking her poise. "There's something there we can't see. And it's likely been there a while."

"Well, we can do a quick look if you want." Cyborg said. "If there's anything to find, my network of scanners should see it."

Cyborg beeped internally as he linked up with the Tower's operating system. It took him all of eight minutes to send a flight probe out far enough, set up a scan and have the analysis completed. He shook his head. "Dunno what to tell you Raven. Nothing came up that I could see. You sure about this?"

Raven nodded. "Positive. There's something on that hill. I saw a wavering effect on the west side."

"When did you see this…wavering effect?" Robin asked.

"This evening," Raven answered. Robin seemed to press for more with his look. She thought quickly. "I thought I sensed something. I decided to track it as far as I could. When I was about to give it up, I looked to the hill. And…I saw it."

It wasn't a complete lie. She followed the aura sensation she knew to be Zerrich and tracked him there. And there was the moment she was about to turn and leave before she finally saw what Zerrich was talking about.

Robin looked at her for a moment. "Then let's check it out."

"Yeah, but," Beast Boy started to complain, "what about, like, food? I'm starving!"

"You can pick something up on the way," Raven answered, heading for the garage with Starfire and Robin.

"Sweet!" Beast Boy cheered, following behind.

"Man, you did not just tell Beast Boy he could eat in my car!" Cyborg bellowed, taking up the rear. "Raven, how could you? You helped me rebuild her an' everything…"

-

-

"See? I'm sorry, Raven. There's nothing here."

Cyborg gestured to the side of the hill furthest from the road. He had performed a manual scan over the entire face, and he found nothing. Raven wasn't convinced. She was hovering up and down the hillside for some clue of whatever it was she has seen. Cyborg wished he could help her out, but there just wasn't anything to find. If there really were a hologram or invisibility field anywhere, he would be able to detect it. Fields of these types either bent light instead of absorbing it the way everything else did, or simply projected against it. In either case, it was a simple matter of disrupting the field. In the end, it was all energy.

Robin was facing away from the hill, overlooking the cityscape leading out towards the ocean. "You said you saw it in the evening," Robin began. "Had the sun already set by then?"

"No," Raven answered, settling to the ground. "It was the sunset that caused the wavering. As if…the light hit it at the right angle or something."

Cyborg shook his head. "Sorry, y'all. Already did a UV scan, too. Didn't see anything from that either."

Robin stroked his chin. "Unless…" He turned around and look towards the hill.

"Robin," Starfire began, "please share with us your findings."

"The haze in the atmosphere," Robin said.

Cyborg nodded. "Right. The smog from the city. The sunlight must've gotten filtered through the haze on the horizon. If I filter the UV light the same way…"

"Not just that," Robin interrupted. "At sunset, the sunlight ends up cutting through a thicker part of the atmosphere because it's almost level with it. The light gets filtered in two ways."

Cyborg smiled. "I can make for those adjustments." Cyborg's shoulder lamp flicked open again. He scanned the hillside with his filtered UV beam. Further up the hill, sure enough, the grass began to shimmer. "Guys, I think we found something."

-

-

Raven had a hard time understanding how a cavern could have been burrowed out of Knight's Hill without anyone knowing about it. There would have been seismic readings, or suspicious movement of dump trucks and other work vehicles to this area...something. Raven couldn't recall any reports on increased work activity out here in the recent months. Had this thing been here all this time?

As they walked, Raven turned her head slightly towards Starfire. "So, tell me. Chinese with ice cream. What exactly was that all about?"

"It was NOT Chinese with ice cream," Starfire stated matter-of-factly in a hushed tone. She looked over at Cyborg. "I simply voiced my desires for a meal at the new Chinese restaurant on Marylin Way. Across from the ice cream parlor."

"Which got Star into thinking about going out for ice cream BEFORE Chinese," Cyborg finished.

Raven looked forward again. "Don't know about the ice cream. But Chinese wouldn't have been a bad idea."

"Ahah!" Starfire cheered quietly, holding a finger in the air. "This now makes it, two-against-one-against-two!"

"Yeah, guess it does," Cyborg smirked. "Not that it matters. Right now, plain ol' food sounds good. I'd be up for about anything."

"Could you guys stop talking about food?" Beast Boy complained. "I mean, come on! Raven said we were gonna stop for something on the way! Did we?"

Raven stared straight ahead as they walked. "I wasn't the one driving."

"Hell yeah, she wasn't," Cyborg almost cheered. "And so long as we're takin' the T-Car, you can forget about--"

"Guys!" Robin hushed the team. "We're coming up on something. Keep it down, and be ready for anything."

The far end of the tunnel began emanating its own light. Raven noted after they'd gone farther down that Cyborg had already turned off his shoulder lamp. The tunnel light became an exit, and the light further past the exit revealed a visible ledge. The ledge was fabricated, complete with its own guardrail. Yup. This has been here a while.

Robin crouched just before the ledge in front of the team. Everyone else held back until he gave the signal. Raven could hear the sound of machinery clanging in a quick beat. The sound indicated multiple machines working in unison. Was this a factory? Perhaps the generator room for whatever else was down here? It almost sounded familiar…

Robin hadn't moved. He was still looking over the ledge at whatever was down below. Raven realized Robin wasn't waiting. He froze up. "Beast Boy," Raven whispered, looking at him and nodding once. Beast Boy nodded back and morphed into a small mouse. He skittered across the last part of the cavern onto the same ledge next to Robin. Suddenly, the mouse morphed back to Beast Boy, who was now looking over the ledge the same as Robin. Beast Boy muttered something, but Raven could only hear a muffled voice through the mechanical noise from below. Beast Boy shook his head, looked over his shoulder at the team, then motioned them all forward. Starfire and Cyborg started first, with Raven in the rear. As each member reacted once they got to the guardrail, Raven couldn't help but fear what she'd see. She stifled the emotion quickly as she peered over Robin's shoulder to the next level below.

"Oh no," Raven gasped, not being able to help herself either.

The drones below were marching through an elongated hangar. The ceiling was about fifty feet higher than where the team stood outside the cavern they'd just traveled. Why Raven hadn't recognized the sound of the drones' synchronized footfalls immediately, she couldn't understand until she looked them over individually. They had been heavily modified. No longer did they slouch as they marched below. Their long, claw-like fingers were replaced with more humanoid digits. Attached to both of their wrists were two elongated claw-blades. Their feet brandished short spikes and a heavier-looking boot to them—possibly the reason the sound was just different enough as their boots clanged against the metallic ground. Their chest and back armor looked thicker as well. Only one thing had not been altered--the masks of part-black, part-orange.

"They're upgrades," Cyborg whispered.

"There are so many!" Starfire said.

Raven nodded slightly. "And where there are so many drones..."

"Slade!" Robin spit out, finally breaking his own silence…