But it seemed that Slade had only taken one hit: as the smoke from her attack slowly died away, she came face-to-face with an incredibly close Slade, who took pride in invading her personal privacy at this level. Unprepared for this, Raven took a kick to her stomach which resulted in her being thrown to the floor. She clutched at the worn tiles with her shaking hands, determined to stand up and continue the fight. But Slade's cutting remark hit her senses.
"Your temper is growing, Raven. I suggest you calm it down before it gets out of hand... again."
The day had passed with no single trace of the Titans' beloved friend. The Teen Titans trudged back to their lonely tower, feeling emotionally and physically drained.
Whoever had put the television on could consider that task useless, as nobody sat and watched the latest episode of their favourite programme. All they could do was sprawl themselves about the sofa, half asleep, and attempt to think up a plan to save their friend.
Time was running out. Yesterday, the reason for finding Raven was mostly related to Slade. If they found her, they found him and if they found him, then their job just would become a whole lot easier. However, now their plan was beginning to fall apart: Raven was a strong girl, but what if she couldn't handle the situation by herself? What if she was in actual trouble? What if Slade had more dangerous plans in mind? What if he didn't just want to use her as bait?
Unable to think these thoughts, Beast Boy had worked himself so hard that he had fallen into a deep slumber as soon as he collapsed onto the sofa. The most frustrating thing was not having any clues whatsoever. Beast Boy felt helpless and a failure as days continued to pass by with no sign of his greatest friend.
And yet, even in his dreams, he racked his brains for ways of saving Raven. As an idea came to mind, it instantly woke him up from his sleep and he shot up, startling the other Titans into giving him their full attention.
"Bad dream?"
"Why did the newspapers publish that story?" Beast Boy demanded. His face was pale and tired, but the look of determination he held could not be compromised.
"What?" Robin asked, not in the mood for Beast Boy's ridiculous questions. "Just to fill up their pages for a bit of cash, I suppose."
"There was no point in that story," Beast Boy replied. This was... somewhat true. Every huge celebrity that became pregnant was splashed over the front page for the world to see, but a fight concerning the Titans, although once spectacular, was now a common event. It was the equivalent of posting an article about an unborn baby's kick. It happens: so what? "So why did they publish it?"
"Beast Boy," Starfire said. She sat in a rather defensive pose for whatever reason, with her arms holding her legs close to her chest. "You speak strange words..."
"Yeah," Cyborg grinned, going along with the unintentional joke. "You picked yourself a new brain today or something?"
Beast Boy merely replied to Cyborg with a glare. "I usually have a small glance at the headlines before I jump to the comic section in the newspaper. It usually has something regarding one of us but this article was less important than some of the bigger stories that were never published. Plus, they were talking about us on a more personal level. I've never seen them do that before."
Convinced that Beast Boy was rambling nonsense, as per usual, Cyborg attempted to shut him up by digging through the rubbish bin for the newspaper that they were discussing. He flicked through the large papers as he made his way back to the sofa.
"What does it say, my friend?"
"You want me to read all of it?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, why not."
"Hmm..." When Cyborg finally found the desired article, he shook the newspaper out, making it easier for him to hold. "Are our city's superheroes really that super... Pictures... by Steve Wilson – sorry, slip of the tongue – Wilkes. Written by Darren Smith -."
"What did you say?" Robin suddenly interrupted, clutching the arm of the sofa with his gloved hand.
"Written by Darren -."
"No, no. Before – you said Wilson. Steve Wilson?"
"Yeah sorry, that was -."
A slip of the tongue, was it? Most probably not: it was common knowledge to the Titans that Slade's 'surname', if you will, was Wilson. Now, although the name 'Steve' sounded nothing like 'Slade', Cyborg was exhausted, and the habit of saying 'Wilson' manipulated the word 'Wilkes'. A stupid mistake, but one that brought a whole new light on the situation. At least the idea was thrown out there to think about.
"What about Darren Smith?" Starfire asked. It could, however, be just a coincidence.
"He used to go by the name of Deathstroke!" Robin cried. His knowledge on the villain was quite astonishing, to say the least. His hatred for the man was almost as strong as Juliet's love for Romeo. "That's the reason why they're publishing useless stories about us! Its not two random people, it's Slade!"
How Slade actually managed to pull off such a feat wasn't known at this stage.
"But Robin," Starfire asked in her usual timid voice. "Who was the person taking photographs of us?"
"It could have been one of Slade's robots," Cyborg shrugged. "Perhaps with a little bit of make-up on?"
"We need to check out the papers a bit more," Robin ordered. An easier clue for the Titans to find would have been an advertisement on the television. It was a rare occurrence for Beast Boy to read the newspaper and if he hadn't, the clue would have gone unnoticed completely. "But we must sleep and regain our energy. I'll set the alarms to wake us up at dawn so we can crack to it."
Thus, the Titans left the newspaper sitting in the middle of the sofa, waiting for their researching extravaganza that would take place in the morning.