V

Confrontation

Raven slid her head out of the shadows in the corner of a small room within the museum. She found the security camera on the opposite side, but it was oscillating in the opposite direction and hadn't spotted her. She was quick to slide out of the wall and float just under the camera. The far wall was all glass, and Raven could see into the large showroom on the other side. She sank into the shadows again, reappearing under another security camera. Yet another security camera started angling towards her direction. She waited until the one above turned to the far right before hovering along the left wall, just out of the far camera's view.

She made her way to the entrance of a hallway, cameras stationed at both ends. She sank into the shadows to surface under the second camera on the far side, blocking the view of the first camera with a splotch of black magic. The lens would simply see a blackout. Raven thought it might alert a security guard to see a camera go out for a moment, but it was at the other end of the hall. The free camera she was under looked to the hall's entrance, and something would have needed to come through there first before the second camera could see anything anyway. Nothing, to its knowledge, did.

It was a few more maneuvers around the security cameras before Raven came into a locked-down room. It was marked with the standard warning of 'authorized personnel only,' and it was bolted down in two places. Raven smirked and sank under the door to appear on the other side. She quickly found out she was not alone in the room.

The center of the room was surrounded in glass, except for a sliding doorway left open. The center case had been cracked open, now empty. Raven looked to the corner to see a man holding the scroll in question in his right hand. His evening blue vest-jacket bound by golden straps stood out in the room. The black of his thick sleeves nearly blended with the shadows. He took a step back, the gray half-coat connected to his vest flowing out as his boot clicked from contact with the ground.

"Bastard," Raven growled at Zerrich. His free hand reached behind him, and a blue swirl of energy forced the shadows open. He jumped through as Raven dove after him. The swirl of magic and shadow closed too small for Raven to follow him through, but it didn't matter. Raven's eyes began to glow as the shadows at her feet reached up and over her, enveloping her entirely.

-

-

The blackness turned into an evening sky overlooking the Jump City Bay Area as Raven stepped out of the shadows in the ground. She was on a dirt embankment on the far side of the city, and she could see most of it across the other side of the bay. Zerrich was not much farther away, and he turned half-around when Raven appeared. He obviously wasn't expecting Raven's new trick, as his eyebrows rose at her.

"That's new," he said, trying to maintain his composure. "You never mentioned you could track through the shadows."

She was having none of it. "You're a thief," she accused, her eyes still glowing.

"And you're uninformed," Zerrich answered. "It didn't belong to that museum. Where do you think the scroll came from if not you?"

"If they did come from you," Raven started, "then you've taken them from the Elders of the Temple. Which still makes you a thief."

"Just like that?" Zerrich cocked his head. "That's the profound logic that resolves the situation for you?"

"Rontizma scrolls aren't just handed out!" Raven was getting angry. She tried to hold it back, but the situation made it difficult. Her voice calmed slightly, though it was still shaky. "You set us up."

Zerrich lowered his head, watching Raven from under his brow. "Where the hell is this coming from?"

"The hidden base," Raven said. "You gave the other scroll to Chang. You taught him how to read the incantation! You LET him reconstruct that army!"

Zerrich's head came back up, his eyes not leaving Raven's locked gaze. "Just a minute..."

"This stops." Raven interrupted. "No more games." She pulled out her Titans communicator, but before she could get her thumb on the signal trigger, the entire device began to glow blue. It yanked from her grip and flew over the dirt embankment into the bay.

"I'd prefer to leave them out of this," Zerrich said, his hand fading from a glowing blue. "Let's get one thing straight, I didn't know..."

"I don't believe you!" Raven cut him off, her eyes flaring brighter. She surrounded a nearby boulder in black energy and hurled it at Zerrich. His left hand went up in response, creating a small blue barrier to defend against the heavy rock.

"I don't want to go to this level with you again," Zerrich warned.

"I'm not letting you get away," Raven said. "I'll fight you myself if I have to. I've done it before."

"And where did it get you?" Zerrich responded. His poise dropped into a more combative form. "I can fend you off well enough."

"I can handle you well enough," Raven retorted, her hands glowing black.

Zerrich's eyes narrowed. "I'm not the one with a heavy burden."

Raven bristled. She bared her teeth, her fists clenched. She shot off the ground and charged straight at Zerrich, chanting quickly before unleashing a volley of black magic on her opponent.

"Jarus, Nichaul!" Zerrich shouted. A large energy barrier went up twice his size, absorbing the impacts. With it came a blastwave that pushed into Raven as she sped towards Zerrich. She pushed through the turbulence and fired forward with both hands. The blast made impact with Zerrich's barrier closer to Raven than she anticipated. Nearly too late, Raven became aware that the blue barrier was coming towards her as she blasted at it. She pulled up and to her right, keeping the blast from her left hand going for cover.

Just as she cut the energy off and began a spiral to her left, the counterattack began. Two blasts of blue energy sang loudly as they flew past her. A third caused Raven to cut her spiral and bank over hard. She began a slow circle around her target, firing a single shadow bolt at Zerrich's feet. He opted to leap backwards instead of blocking the attack. Raven reacted to Zerrich's change of tactic and let a long stream of energy fly as Zerrich regained his footing, but the other got his barrier back up before impact. He was simply too fast with his defenses, and Raven hadn't been able to capitalize on the opportunity in time. Raven ceased fire, and Zerrich's barrier went away as quickly as it went up. Two blasts sailed up at her, seemingly fired before the field had come fully down.

It's happening the same way. Everything's exactly the same.

Raven dodged the blasts and returned fire, but she knew she had to change tactics. She was keeping mostly on offense while Zerrich maintained a practiced guard. As well, she was being kept in a constant motion from his counterattacks, whereas Zerrich held his ground with very little movement. He was going to wear her out. Again.

It's time I start learning. Raven quickly landed, putting both hands together and striking at Zerrich from across the embankment. A blue dome surrounded him as Raven's energy blasted into it. She flew at him again, but this time Raven took the energy and slid downward until it made impact with the ground below the dome field. Rock and dirt chunks exploded around the energy field, and the dome barrier extended down to fill the small gap as quickly as it was made.

Suddenly the field went down, and Raven could see Zerrich swiping quickly at his face with one hand. The dirt from inside the dome had sprayed at him from the impact of the blast before the dome could reseal, and Zerrich had gotten a face-full of it. Raven punched forward, firing a heavy stream at Zerrich. It smashed right into his chest, throwing him off the embankment and out over the bay.

Before Zerrich could hit the water, he straightened his body out and flew level a foot off the water. He pulled up and made a sharp turn back for the embankment, but Raven was footed at its edge. She blasted at him, causing him to dodge and weave. A straight-on blast made impact with a blue barrier that came out of nowhere. Raven pushed forward with her hands, firing another long stream. Again the blue field went up, but this time Raven held it in place, her energy preventing it from speeding towards her. After a struggle, the field collapsed. Raven's blast punched straight through without any more resistance.

But it hit nothing on the other side. Something caught Raven's eye, and she looked up and to her left. Zerrich, well out of position, flew at her with a series of blasts flying in front of him. Raven had enough time to get a partial black field up to block one, but another caught her in the side. Raven was thrown clear of a third blast at where her feet had been, and she had enough mind to get a full dome around her to block off the rest of the volley. She could see and feel through the barrier the stream of bolts slamming over and above her until Zerrich flew past.

The girl dropped the dome and turned to see Zerrich in a crouched landing further away, his back turned to her. She took the opportunity to strike, but again Zerrich was faster. His right hand went out almost behind him, and a perfect square of energy held the blast at bay. Raven put her hands together, increasing the blast's strength. She then turned her hands clockwise, causing the stream to twist. The energy spiraled all the way to the blue field, turning against the barrier like a screw. It continued to spin until the solid blue energy of the barrier began to distort. Raven began walking forward, continuing the attack. Zerrich's barrier slowly spiraled along with the black energy attacking it. The whole thing started to buckle from the assault.

Before the field could drop, two streaks of blue shot out to the sides from behind the barrier. They curved back around and made their way towards Raven on both her left and right. As Zerrich's guard finally shattered, Raven was forced to drop her attack and shield herself on both sides. Black walls of energy came up on her left and right sides, taking the impacts directly. However, a third shot lanced out at Raven from Zerrich's position, and she was slow getting her hands in front of her. A weak band of energy streaked across her fingers from each hand, but the blast shattered through and hit her in the gut. She flew back a good distance but landed on her feet. The brittle guard she had put up absorbed some of the blast, though her stomach was still sore. Her left leg shook under its own weight, but Raven kept from falling over.

She was mad. Her eyes flared bright, and her teeth glared on their own. She leaped into the air, gathering energy into both fists. She flew to her left, letting a stream of black magic pummel into a newly erected rectangular barrier. Unstable tendrils danced from Raven's black stream at the impact point, threatening to slither around the barrier to the other side. Similar, smaller tendrils danced around Raven's hands, a sign her anger was beginning to best her. As Raven strafed across Zerrich's field to his other side, she half-expected the barrier to angle around with her. She quickly found out why it hadn't.

With no warning, a large blast of blue energy flew up towards her from the right side of Zerrich's guard. She reared back, slowing her flight to avoid contact, but the ball of energy curved to intercept her regardless. She gathered her strength, chanted, and struck back with a blast of magic. The black energy stream was again stable as it smashed into the projectile blast coming at her, but it only barely began slowing it down. She reached out with her mind, grabbing two large rocks in the area and slamming them up at the energy ball hoping to slow its approach. It was at a little more than past the three-quarter mark between the two combatants that the energy blast began to decelerate rapidly, and finally it exploded. Raven hovered backwards from the blast's power, but was quick to fly towards Zerrich again. She opened up with a new volley of energy, and she could tell his shield wasn't going to hold this time. She powered up her fists again, and at close-range, she fired.

The guard broke again, and Raven went sailing through it straight for Zerrich. With her fist surrounded in black magic she took a swing at him, to which he ducked. Raven landed to his side with her back partially turned, and she tried a roundhouse, magic-encased kick to Zerrich's temple. His arm came up quick, a blue field surrounding it. The block was made, and Raven barely regained her stance before taking another swing at him. She made contact with his chest, slipping past both guarded hands. He stepped back with a grunt before his right fist reared back to take its own shot. Along with the strike came a blue bolt, both fist and energy flying over Raven's ducked shoulder. She came back up with a powered uppercut that Zerrich stepped away from by a mere inch.

Zerrich caught her with a hit to the chest, forcing a grunt from her mouth. She recovered as fast as she could and went back into her attacks. Her fists made quick strikes for Zerrich's head and upper body, and the man dodged or blocked them in turn. However, his defensive approach was awkward. The physical counterstrikes that followed were sloppy, leading Raven to make a new conclusion.

He didn't know how to fight hand-to-hand. Rather, he could but with very little in regards to technique. Raven went into a series of attacks, keeping her movements quick. Zerrich's defenses at close range weren't doing the trick, and Raven landed many of her strikes. Zerrich landed few of his counterattacks, though the strength behind them was physically greater than Raven's. In the end Zerrich leaped back and into the air, putting up a small field to hold Raven's last punches at bay. She charged up after him, smashing at Zerrich's guard with shadow-surrounded fists. A follow-up kick disintegrated the left side of the barrier, causing the rest of it to go down. She brought her extended leg down and followed up with an open palm to Zerrich's stomach.

He flew back from the impact, and Raven charged at him one more time. As Raven jammed her magic-enclosed fists towards Zerrich's gut, the man grabbed at her upper arms and prevented the punches from hitting home. It was the wrong defensive move, and Raven knew how aware Zerrich was of that the moment he grabbed her arms.

The moment Raven smirked at him.

The magic energy around her fists discharged into Zerrich at point-blank. The explosion of energy was strong enough to knock even Raven back, and her hood fell away from her face as a result. Her hands stung, and she couldn't help but flex her fingers to try and get them to relax. Raven watched as Zerrich flew back in a decent spiral before hitting the ground hard—landing on his right arm—a good distance away. She hovered there a moment as he rolled on the ground before coming to a crumpled stop face-down. His left arm was tucked under his body, sticking out from beneath him. His right was limp and drawn out along the ground. He didn't move.

Raven hovered in place a few more moments as she watched him. She eyed him for the slightest twitch, keeping her right hand surrounded in shadow. Just in case. Nothing came from Zerrich, and Raven was convinced enough to move in closer. A part of her regretted having to take him to jail. He was probably right about what he'd said days before. Locked down, he would likely confess to very little. His true purpose for being here would be nothing more than an assumption by others. Raven was more concerned with what else Zerrich had planned. What if other events had been put into motion already? Events meant to cause more damage?

It didn't seem to matter. Chang had been stopped, and the underground base seemed to house enough cause for destruction that the chances of there being something bigger was hard to believe. Raven examined Zerrich again. Whatever he had been planning, he would no longer be in a position to pull it off. She relaxed her hand, letting the magic dissolve away. That was the moment that Raven thought the deep blue of Zerrich's vest was leaping forward on its own…

It wasn't his vest.

A sphere of blue energy traveled up and slammed into Raven's face. She was sure she had screamed, but no sound came to her ears. The impact took away her hearing, her vision, her sense of direction…everything on contact. Everything except the sensation of pain. Her face stung, burned was more accurate. She reached blindly for her face but felt no fire. It was the odd sensation of her fingers feeling her face, but not of the reverse. Her body felt like it was spinning, though she couldn't tell what direction. Her mindset was so chaotic that there was no way for her to concentrate and recover.

She felt a sudden jolt and stinging sensation from the whole of her left side. Raven could only assume she'd hit the ground. The wind knocked out of her lungs, and she struggled to take a breath. She rolled painfully onto her back. Her sense of direction was so off it seemed to feel as if she was rolling down hill. The world in her mind spun back the other direction, making orientation even worse. Raven hadn't been able to take a breath since she hit the ground and thought she felt herself going unconscious…

Then, her lungs drew in the air they needed. She coughed it out and took another breath. That one was followed by a quicker inhale and exhale, and Raven began a slow panting as her breathing returned to normal. She stayed on her back, her hands falling away from her face and limply to the sides of her head. Her face still stung, but a sensation of blood rush flooded her eyes with a colorful dance of sparks. The small, starry explosions brought more and more light from the real world to her eyes until she could see a blur of the sky.

Raven attempted to sit up with a groan. The first thing she realized was the vertigo that had messed with her head when she rolled over was still there. The second was that her left arm was shaky when she tried to use it to prop herself up. She rolled slightly to her right and attempted to get her feet under her. After a couple of staggering tries, she slowly stood up. The world, now starting to come into focus, had stopped spinning and had settled on slowly rocking back and forth. The sound in her ears was still muffled.

Her thoughts went to the blind-shot, just before impact. The energy blast from Zerrich's left hand, tucked under his body, had shifted its hue to a slightly darker blue. The shot had blended perfectly with his clothing. She hadn't seen it coming, didn't realize what it was until it was too late. She turned her head—very slowly—to where Zerrich had fallen.

There were drag marks in the dirt the size of a grown man trailing from the impact point to the left. The man from Azarath had propped himself up against a nearby boulder with his left arm resting across his stomach. He kept his right arm off at a slight angle away from his body. It was held straight, as if he were afraid to bend it. Zerrich's left knee was slightly arched, most likely as a result of a final push-off along the ground. His expression was strained as he looked out at the bay. He hadn't taken off running. He hadn't seized the moment to slip into the shadows while Raven was down. Perhaps because he didn't have the energy for it. Just as Raven didn't have the strength to pursue him if he had.

Once again, neither came from the duel victorious, neither was defeated, and neither had the capacity at the moment to continue. Stalemate. It was becoming a habit that maddened Raven to a degree she didn't want to reach. Most of what calm she had gained went into keeping her demons at bay. The remaining energy went into keeping her balance.

"Are we done?" Zerrich said from where he sat, his voice sounding muffled to Raven's ears.

She looked at Zerrich as he put his head back against the boulder. His chest was rising and falling quickly, indicating a shortness of breath from their fight. He closed his eyes tight, moving his left arm delicately to his side and wincing. He was definitely hurting. If not all over, his lower ribs at least were paining him.

Raven made her way to where Zerrich sat. She walked delicately along the ground, leaning slightly back and forth along with the slow rocking motions in her head. The sting in her face had turned into a full tingling, and she had taken to itching and massaging her cheeks and chin to get the blood circulating properly. When she finally got to Zerrich, she realized she honestly didn't know what to do with him next. She yielded to the facts and finally lowered herself to the ground. She grunted as she bent her legs and attempted to get them out in front of her to sit comfortably, leaning back against the same boulder. They were both worn out. No one was going anywhere or doing anything at the moment.

"You're still a thief," she deadpanned.

Zerrich's head came back from leaning against the boulder, and he took a breath to speak. "You honestly don't know that. I don't know if it's your pessimistic nature labeling me or…"

"You know those scrolls aren't just given out freely, I told you," Raven retorted.

Zerrich looked at Raven. "Interesting how much you seem to know. Considering how much you kept to yourself in Azarath."

"Don't do that," Raven warned. "Don't act like I don't know my own people. And don't think you're getting yourself out of all this. You gave that scroll to Chang."

"As I was trying to tell you," Zerrich started, taking a labored breath before continuing, "I had nothing to do with that."

"You knew about that entrance at the hill. We've been here a long time. Longer than you. We never even knew about it. How did you? How could you know unless…"

"There's one thing I've always noticed about those that perform their tasks for an extended time," Zerrich interrupted. "After a while, they develop a linear form of thinking. Things get ignored if they don't stand out right away or are not the result of a good digging through the facts." Zerrich adjusted against the boulder, wincing a bit. "Sometimes fresh eyes see that which is overlooked. I'm new. I've been examining the city with a closer eye than you might, bearing in mind how long you've been here."

"How did Chang get that scroll if you didn't give it to him?"

The other looked down at the ground in front of him. "That…may have still been my fault."

Raven mentally rolled her eyes. She dared not do it for real. The vertigo was only beginning to fade off. "Start explaining."

"I don't remember much. At one point, memories began to blur. My mindset was a mess. I knew it was towards the end of the effect—I'd already used it to gain a good amount of knowledge while I was here." Zerrich sighed. His breathing was not as labored as before, but his voice was tired. "It was the seventh time I had read from a Rontizma scroll. It was after I arrived."

"Seventh?" Raven wanted to make sure she'd heard right. "You read the scrolls seven times total? How long in between?"

"They were close enough. My mind…just couldn't handle the effect of each one in such a close time frame. At least the madness wasn't permanent."

"I'd argue that point," Raven muttered.

"I came to somewhere out of the way, and the scrolls were missing. I didn't know where they had gone…where I'd left them."

Raven wasn't sure if she could believe it. In fact, it was taking her quite the effort not to call Zerrich a liar straight out. "So," she began. "You overdosed on intelligence. That's…definitely a new one, even for me."

"I'd heard the warnings about the scrolls," Zerrich continued. "I didn't think the madness would take so quickly."

"You see why I don't believe someone from the temple gave you those scrolls? They're so easily misused. The Elders would have seen what would happen to you before even you did. They wouldn't have allowed it."

Zerrich took a breath. "There are the rules, and then there are the people that follow them. The people that enforce them. Sometimes there are debts involved…"

"You're about to tell me…what, someone from the temple owed you a favor? What could you have possibly done to earn that kind of gratitude? You didn't get just one scroll, but two."

Zerrich looked at Raven. "It was a big favor."

Raven shook her head, immediately regretting it. She took a moment to let the dizziness clear away. "I want you to level with me. I'm not interested in riddles and half-answers. What are you doing here?"

"I told you," Zerrich said, "I'm curious of who you are. And I know you won't simply be open with me when you keep so closed off even to those that know you best."

He was doing it again. He was speaking of knowledge he really shouldn't have possessed. Granted, not all of her life was a secret on Azarath. His knowledge of her history and origin could be discovered with digging. This, however, was different. This was her persona he was referring to. She decided not to play around with him. "How do you know these things?"

Zerrich reached into his pocket under his vest, pulling out the scroll with his left hand. He played it back and forth in his fingers. "Blame it on this if you wish."

Raven watched the scroll intently, as if the blank parchment wrapped within could still tell all its secrets. All her secrets. "Body language. Facial expressions. Tone of voice. While you were watching me from the shadows…"

"You're an open book," Zerrich finished. "If you know how to read the language."

"Or something magically grants you the wisdom in the first place."

"Have to start somewhere," Zerrich finished, "and someway."

"How long have you…" Raven looked at Zerrich, not finishing the answer.

Zerrich sighed. "Almost two months now."

Zerrich steadied the scroll in his hand. After a moment, he offered it to Raven. She didn't take it right away. "You're…giving this to me? No fights?"

"It's used, right now. I have no need of it. Plus, if I can lose the damned things, then perhaps I shouldn't be in possession of them right now."

Raven still paused a moment before taking the offered scroll. "And if you can lose your mind. That's what I was getting at before," she said.

Zerrich said nothing. Instead, he moved his right arm slightly. He winced as he tried to bring it up and fold it across his stomach. His left arm lightly grasped at the part under his right elbow. Raven reached out with her mind to the limb, trying to sense past the skin. There was that slight block she had sensed in him before. The thing that prevented her from reading his thoughts. It was thinner this time, however, and the secrets underneath didn't remain such for long.

"It's broken," she said.

"Ribs too, I think," Zerrich said, cradling the arm with his left hand. "Somehow I feel I got off lucky."

"You're probably right," Raven deadpanned. "You're still in bad shape."

"I'll recover," Zerrich responded. "Nothing a few healing techniques and a resting trance won't fix up."

"It'll still be a few weeks before that arm restores fully."

Zerrich cocked his head at Raven. "Weeks? Are you insulting my healing abilities?"

"Even I can't heal broken bones that quickly."

The man stood up, moving almost like an old man. "It's all about specializing." He began to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Raven's tone increased as she tried to get up as well. The ground seemed to rush away from her, then back, then away again. Raven's vertigo hadn't gone anywhere; it had simply been resting along with her.

"Still plan on taking me to jail?" Zerrich queried. "Everything I said to you was true whether you believe it or not."

Raven took two steps forward. "I'm going to talk with the others. I have to. They have every right to know."

Zerrich didn't answer right away. "You'll do what you must," he finally said. His left hand went out just in front of him. The shadows at his feet turned a blue shade, taking their time to form before swallowing him down. He sank slowly into the ground until he was gone. Raven didn't even bother trying to track him. This night was done. She gave herself the time needed to recover enough energy to get home. Then, she did just that.

-

-

A few drops of water quietly plinked against the drain of the sink after Raven turned off the tap. She looked back at the mirror in the main bathroom of the Tower. Her face was swollen, but it didn't look as bad as it had felt. A dark bruise took up a good amount of her right side just behind the cheek. Her body was sore, mostly on her left side when she'd fallen. Her upper left arm and shoulder ached, making it painful to raise it too much. She had tended to the scratches on her legs, but the bruises that spotted her left thigh would need the night to fix.

Grateful she had no broken bones, she slowly walked her way out of the bathroom and into the hall. She levitated to the ceiling, traveled through a mass of black and surfaced on the level above. Her room was a few doors down. The only thing she wanted to do was get in bed, calm her nerves and begin a much-needed healing trance. In the morning, she would talk to the team about Zerrich. She wasn't looking forward to it, especially having to explain why she lied. Why had she lied? For what purpose? A selfish need to understand what Zerrich had wanted?

No, that answer was much simpler. At first, sure, it was curiosity. That was all heightened when she found out Zerrich was from Azarath. When she thought he had something to do with Chang and the base, she was furious. Zerrich had betrayed her and her friends, and all because of her foolish curiosity. That was humiliating enough. She lied to keep the team out of it. She wanted to take care of it herself. That action entailed only vengeance. Raven had always been careful not to tread into that territory before.

Until now.

Raven entered her room, went to her trunk and opened it. She took the second Rontizma scroll in her hand and placed it next to the first, closing the trunk after them. She removed her cloak and let it sink to the floor with little care. It was a slow and somewhat painful process rolling into bed, and she was still getting a slight feeling of dizziness from the roll itself. She gave herself a few moments, enjoying the chance to finally relax. After a handful of seconds of quiet chanting, Raven's body began to levitate of its own accord. Her eyes closed, and reality went away until sunrise.

-

-

Raven came out of her trance in much better condition then she went in. Her body had recovered significantly, though she felt drained. She got out of bed, meditated, showered and finally headed to the living room. The only real discoloration in her skin that she noticed was the light bruise behind her cheek and the larger bruise on her thigh. The facial blemish seemed more an unnatural shadow against the sterile light of the fluorescent lamp above the mirror in the bathroom. Out in the daylight, however, it would be too obvious. That problem was resolved by simply wearing her hood up. It was still something she did indoors commonly enough, though she had taken to leaving it down more often. As for the bruise on her thigh, the cloak hid that all on its own.

Walking the halls to the living room seemed to take longer given what she had to say to everyone. There would be a lot of questions. Raven hated questions. She couldn't place blame anywhere else. She had created this situation. From the very beginning, Raven understood she would have to confess. She just wished she hadn't let it all build up first. Walking into the living room, Raven could only immediately spot Robin and Beast Boy at the breakfast table. She made her way to the two of them, looking mostly at Robin.

She opened her mouth to speak, when the main door slid open. Cyborg walked in with papers in hand. "Security reports just came back through. They got all the information on that mountain base Raven found."

Robin looked up from his breakfast. "Let's hear it."

"Well, for starters, the base looks like it was built a while ago. Most of it matches Slade-style construction, but a lot of it had add-ons everywhere. Like those containers we saw."

"They find out what they were for?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Cyborg answered. "Xenothium storage."

"What?" Beast Boy exclaimed, putting his soymilk back on the table. "Dude! There were, like, how many containers in that room? And they were huge!"

"Yup," Cyborg said. "Some of the computer files had locked-down hard copies. Not all of them survived the blast, but the ones that were recovered showed plans to some new heavy weapon. We're talkin' the 'world-wide domination' kind. Some of the hangar areas had pieces of the thing already made. Good news is Chang hadn't actually gotten around to gettin' it assembled."

"Looks like we caught it in time afterall," Robin said.

"There was more," Cyborg added. "Some other files were recovered from the base computers. Detectives couldn't figure out the transcripts, but they had a picture in the database to go along with them." Cyborg handed a few of the pages to Raven. She didn't immediately take them, until she noticed the black and white picture printed on the first page.

"What is it?" Robin asked.

"Looks like that scroll Raven found off Chang," Cyborg answered.

Raven took the pages. The picture was definitely of the scroll. The pictograms on the page were Azarath markings, but there were far more than could exist on the scroll, even with the spell unread. More importantly, not all of them talked of the scroll. They weren't specific, but it was very clear that some of the Azarath texts were in an Earth-style legend format. A translator. The only problem was, the legend wasn't complete.

"Is there any more?" Raven asked, flipping through the paper in her hand. The rest of the pages were nothing but notes and findings of the detectives. Only the first page contained any pictures of Azarath text.

"That was all they could come up with," Cyborg said.

"The translation's not complete," Raven said. "It's as if someone had almost finished with it and stopped."

"So, turns out you were right."

Raven looked up at Cyborg, confused. "Right?"

"You and Robin, about the scroll. The recovery team found some incomplete ghost files still imprinted on the main computer. They were made by Chang. That stuff on the scroll predates Chang's entries."

"So the scroll was already kinda translated before Chang came along," Beast Boy finished, looking at Raven, "just like you said."

Robin only nodded grimly. "It must have been Slade. Everything we said about Slade translating the scroll, Chang using it…for the most part we've been able to confirm that. Chang almost took over everything."

Cyborg walked over to Raven, putting a hand on her left shoulder. She was grateful it had healed over in the night. "And you stopped him. Well, I mean okay…the team stopped him, really…"

"Yeah," Beast Boy chimed in, "but Raven found the base in the first place. Way to kick some underground butt!"

Robin smiled, getting up from his seat and standing next to Raven. "Looks like those late nights you ventured out paid off. Sorry I gave you a hassle about it the other day."

Raven found herself openly staring at Robin and the team under her hood. She couldn't bring an answer to her lips. Instead, she turned from the table and walked away, caring little for the possible reactions of the team. She started walking back down the hall to her room, realizing late that she still held the report papers in her hand. As Raven turned a corner, she saw Starfire on the other side. The girls stopped walking a few feet away and simply looked at each other in the hall. Starfire had a mixed look of anxious sadness, as if she were waiting for Raven to say something. She was still waiting for Raven's explanation.

Raven looked away and kept walking, giving Starfire no answer at all. Raven was too busy thinking about the scroll. She had lied when she suggested Slade had taken the scroll during the raid on the Tower six months ago. She never had a Rontizma scroll to take, but somehow Slade had actually gotten his hands on one just the same. Raven had assumed it was Zerrich that had given Chang the scroll. The paperwork in her hand showed evidence that the scroll had been under study. If the scroll had neededstudying--evident by an incomplete legend--it meant that Zerrich hadn't given Chang or Slade the scroll after all. It meant that he hadn't shown either of them how to use it.

It meant that, if only for that one fact, Zerrich had been telling the truth.