Chapter 2

Beast Boy yawned cavernously as he sat up in bed, scratching at his unruly green hair. Emerald eyes slowly moved back and forth, panning the room. Piles of filthy laundry, a computer with a pair of briefs thrown on it carelessly, a neatly organized gaming system complete with a shelf full of game cartridges. He yawned again, stepped out of the bed…and nearly fell over as Cyborg burst into the room.

The metal man looked grave as he stared sadly at the shape-shifter. "Star's gone," he stated simply. His metal prosthetics squeaked lightly as he shifted his weight from one foot to another while staring at the floor. "They got in through the vents and took her somewhere where we can't track her."

Beast Boy gaped. "W-what? Th-that's impossible. No one could have gotten through the vents." He hurriedly threw on some still clean clothes. "Does Raven know?"

Cyborg nodded slowly. "She's taking it kinda hard though." He chuckled mirthlessly. "Actually, the whole Base is taking it bad. I heard it's a freakin' chaos up in Observation."

Beast Boy numbly sat on his bed and covered his face with his hands. "Oh man, I-I really hope she's all right." He sighed and looked at his metal friend. "M-maybe it's better she got out of here anyway. They can't test her anymore if she's not here." Suddenly, the changeling jerked upwards as he felt the cybernetic chip in his hand begin to vibrate softly. Tapping the back of his hand twice, a small screen suddenly appeared. Scanning the short message, Beast Boy sighed. "Looks like they want us in Observation."

Cyborg growled angrily and followed his green friend out the door.

---

Sunlight stabbed down through the barred window on the left of the bed, striking Starfire's face and turning the inside of her eyelids red. Moaning irritably, she flipped on to her side, away from the window.

The door suddenly swung open, where her kidnapper stood framed by light from the other room. Yanking the bed quilt of the young girl, he stood staring at her from behind the dark glass band. Emotionless.

Glaring angrily at the man, Starfire tried to grab the covers back. "I wish to sleep longer and seeing as you will possibly slay me before the day's end, I believe it is a reasonable last request."

The man continued to stare at her, making her squirm under his gaze. "Those were not my orders, Miss Koriand'r."

"Then what are, Mister…" Starfire let the sentence drag on, trying to drag a name from the stoic kidnapper.

"Nightwing, and my instructions were simply to detain you." He threw something to her. A small key. "You have permission to walk around this apartment. Don't bother escaping. My supervisor's men will bring you down if you so much as try to rattle the doorknob. And believe you me, they are not as gentle as I am." He turned to leave. "I have things to attend to. There is some breakfast on the table in the kitchen." With that, he was gone.

Starfire grumbled momentarily in her native tongue before releasing herself from her restraints. Rubbing her wrists, she explored the apartment. The bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Absolutely nothing of interest. The drab white of the walls held no framed holographs, no decoration of any sort. A holo-screen sat pinned to the far wall, the screensaver displaying the time. Picking up the holo-screen's remote, she briefly flipped through the scant channels. News, a day-time cartoon about fluffy animals, more news. It was rather obvious that her kidnapper was not one for entertainment. Switching it to the Internet, she scanned the history files. He hadn't used it in the past month, and then only to look up information on some business man.

Sighing, she turned toward the kitchen. A simple metal table with three chairs sat against the wall. A small plate of bacon, eggs, and toast were all ready set out for her. Sighing again, she headed for the modest repast.

---

Nightwing stood with his back to an enormous window, displaying the very tops of the enormous buildings of the City. Before him, a large mahogany desk stretched out in an imperial fashion, it semi-glossy varnish reflecting light faintly. He mused almost subconsciously, wondering where his supervisor could have acquired the wood. Perhaps he imported if from Old Earth.

"You wanted to see me, sir." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, I did." A well-built business man sat in a red-leather chair, again something probably imported. "It's about the girl." His deep, low voice wavered up and down smoothly, almost intoxicatingly. His chiseled face stared at his top assassin, deep blue eyes scanning the dark man's face. "I'm sure you're wondering about that little fact." The business man lifted an eyebrow, his fingers knotting together under his chin. Calm and collected. A true leader of men.

"Yes, I was. Why don't you send her down to the labs so your scientists can tinker with her?" Nightwing stared into his employer's face. "I can't have her in my apartment, sir."

The man leaned back in his chair, his head leaning on his fingers, his mouth tugging into a smirk. "What, don't trust yourself around beautiful girls?"

Nightwing remained emotionless. "You and I both know that's not the case, Wayne."

"Uh-huh." A pause. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You're both about the same age anyway." Wayne didn't let the smirk leave his face as he purposefully tried to get some emotion from the stoic assassin. He knew it wouldn't work. "Actually, I think we can fit her into our plans. She would make a wonderful addition to our faction, wouldn't you agree."

Nightwing actually let his own smirk play at the corners of his lips. "Her powers would be helpful, but she's just a kid. Rough, untrained, unrefined. Just a play thing of a government branch gone wrong. Just like all those other freaks they have holed up in that Base of theirs." He snorted lightly. "Stupid fool should have never left her planet. Could have saved herself a lot of pain."

Wayne nodded. "As true as all you say might be, we still have a use for her." He withdrew a square mini-disk from his pocket and handed it to Nightwing. "Take a look over her medical files. I'm sure you'll see that it won't take much to 'train' her, as you put it."

"But still, she's a kid." Nightwing's eyes stared at the ground, hidden by the glass band. "I don't want what happened to me to happen to her."

"It's not your choice, Grayson," Wayne pointed out calmly.

Nightwing winced at his own name. "I understand, sir. But I'm sure she won't be as enthusiastic about all this as you are."

"You don't have to worry about that." Wayne leaned back into his expensive chair. "She will come willingly, if not happily, once I explain things to her." He motioned towards the door. "You're dismissed."

Nightwing nodded his head once in acknowledgment. "For a better City."

Wayne nodded back gravely. "Indeed, for a better City."

---

Cyborg and Beast Boy stood stiffly before their own supervisor in the small, metal room that served as an office for the small man sitting in the chair behind a gleaming metal desk. A small sign proudly displayed the man's name, 'Colonel Davidson'.

"Do you know why you are here, boys?" Davidson brushed a hand through his gray, thinning hair. He seemed tired, as if he didn't get enough sleep the night before.

Beast Boy lifted a finger. "Um, because you love the sound of our voices?" he offered tentatively.

"Hardly," the man flatly stated.

Cyborg looked at the ground. "It's Star, isn't it?"

"Yes, exactly. Project 143 was kidnapped last night, as you well know and…"

"Starfire, not 143," Cyborg corrected, lifting his head to stare at the militaristic man before him. "She has a name, you know."

The colonel waved him off. "That's beside the point. I need you to you to find her and get her back. Both of the factions want her. I don't need to tell you that she has massive potential as a weapon. As soon the rest of your team arrives, I'll outline specifics."

As he spoke, the door behind them slid open, revealing an angry Raven, a girl with pink hair, and, oddly enough, a small little fox-like thing floating at Raven's head level.

Beast Boy looked incredulously at the three figures. "Um, I understand Raven and Jinx, but what's that?"

"GREEN MAN," the little fox screeched in a babyish voice and promptly flew over to hover in the changeling's face. It was barely half a foot tall and less than two inches wide(including its long tail), with brown and white fur and shiny little button-like eyes and nose. The legs were digit-less, leaving the fox with only small, flat pads to wave around. It continued to screech as it hugged Beast Boy's face as best it could. It was surprisingly strong. "OH, GREEN MAN, WE GONNA HAVE LO'SA FUN."

Beast Boy whimpered around a face full of fox. Raven moaned and lifted her hand to her temple. "It is way too early for this."

Jinx chuckled and pried the small fox off of Beast Boy's face. "Aww, it's so adorable." She tickled the fox's soft stomach. It promptly giggled and wrestled with Jinx's finger.

"Ahem, yes, well, you'll find Sneak a helpful asset in your quest to track Koriand'r." The colonel stood up slowly. His age was showing. "We have a clue. Not a very good one, but a clue nonetheless." He pressed a small button on a remote control. The holo-screen on the left wall suddenly flickered to life. It was a grainy video camera shot, taken in the dead of night. A lone guard was slowly making his rounds on the exterior walls of the Base, pausing every now and then to glance around. Suddenly, a spray of dark fluid erupted from the man's chest before he toppled over. Then, the screen went to snow.

Sneak yelped unhappily at the gruesome sight. "That icky," he moaned childishly. Davidson ignored him and rewound the footage until it froze on the image of the guard's chest being thrown forward powerfully by something off screen. A few trails of blood were just beginning to pour out of a wound.

"So," sighed Cyborg slowly. "Where's the clue? I just see a poor sap being killed."

Davidson glanced at the metal man briefly before pressing another button on the remote. A certain point on the guard's chest zoomed into focus. They all strained their eyes, and saw something metal and triangular just poking past the guard's clothes.

Beast Boy scratched his head. "Uh, so?"

"No," Cyborg said suddenly. "No, wait. I think I got it." He walked up to the screen and jabbed a finger at the triangle. "It's some sort of large blade. You can tell because it's too flat to be a bullet. The guard was stabbed in the back with something larger than a knife. A knife would be slim, but this blade is too wide."

The colonel seemed impressed. "Yes, that's exactly what my analyzers said. But it took them a while to find that particular frame. It was a lightning quick blow, because the tip isn't there in the next frame." He turned off the holo-screen. "We're dealing with some highly-trained fighters. I have no doubt that one of the factions have her stored away somewhere. They've been after her for a while now." He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

Raven spoke suddenly. "Do you really intend to release us for this little job? What makes you think we won't try and run away the first chance we get?"

The colonel laughed. "And where would you run to? You are all orphans, all freaks. Who would accept you? Who would feed you and house you?" He sat back in his chair, smugly. "And it is no hard thing to track you. You belong to the government and you are all valuable assets. Every freak in this Base is an asset. Get over your silly notions of freedom." Davidson grinned. "Quite frankly, we're the closest you'll ever get to freedom."

Raven clenched her jaw angrily slightly, fighting rage down.

"Now that we're all on the same page, you will be escorted out and then you better start snooping around. I will keep in contact through the chips." He tapped his left hand, where his own chip's screen suddenly appeared. "I would start at the lower levels of the City. Ask around for a fighter with some sort of large, bladed weapon. If they decide not to talk, you may use whatever means you see fit. If your little search leads you to the upper levels, use your heads."

Davidson glanced at each in turn. "But I want that girl back, no matter what. Now get going." He waved them out. They all moved en mass out the door.

A troop of soldiers escorted them to the outer gates, where they were left staring at the tree bordered road leading away from the Base. Beast Boy sighed. "Well, let's go find us an alien."

Sneak is an original character. DO NOT ask what I was thinking. You just wouldn't get it.

-Razvanor