Turnabout Titan
Chapter Six – Phoenix Rising
"That went about as well as could be expected." Victor Stone shrugged his massive mechanical shoulders. "But we're not out of the woods yet."
"You think I don't know that?" Robin snapped. "Cyborg, What just happened had to happen. That doesn't make the fact we're lying under oath any easier of a pill to swallow."
"Not so loud man," Cyborg warned, leaning forward. "Just because I didn't detect any listening devices in there doesn't mean there aren't any eavesdroppers doin' it the old fashioned way."
Robin nodded and scooted closer to the glass divider. "We have other problems. I think Mr. Wright is getting suspicious. He saw Raven in court today—he saw her taking my emotions from me so I could keep a straight face during Dr. Thompkins' testimony."
Cyborg grimaced. He knew that Phoenix had a sharper mind than he'd be letting on, and he knew that he'd gotten curious. That much was obvious in the way Wright kept looking at Robin, shooting glances at him during the trials. But he hadn't known about him seeing Raven. "You think he can figure anything out from that?"
"If he's as good as Yin says he is, I don't doubt it. Where is he now?"
"I told him you didn't want to talk to him, so he took his sidekicks and headed back to their hotel."
Robin nodded somberly, but then a strange look crossed his face—one hard to make out behind the mask. Robin's mouth went flat, but his eyes darkened as though suddenly considering a horrible possibility.
"Vic, if the people who framed me are capable of murdering Frank Newitt—"
"Aw, crud!" Cyborg spat. "You don't think—"
"It's possible. They'll make it look like an accident, though. Go make sure Wright and the girls are safe and get them to the Tower ASAP!" Robin stood up out of his chair and pressed his hands against the glass. "I refuse to let a civilian die on my behalf."
Cyborg tried to think of anything to add, but found that he had nothing, and darted out of the room. He opened a panel on his arm and activated his communicator. "BB, where are you?"
The static resolved into the image of the green shape-shifter. "I'm at the arca—I mean… looking for clues. At the arcade. Yeah."
"Get your butt out of there and head for the Hotel where Wright is staying ASAP! Robin thinks the people who framed him are going to take a swipe at the lawyer!"
Beast Boy growled—quite literally, as he'd turned into a cougar, drawing screams from the other arcade patrons—and darted out of the establishment, communicator in his mouth.
"I can't believe that guy," Nick muttered as he tried to change the stereo in Maya's car. "I'm trying to save his life and he doesn't even want to discuss the case with me."
"That Dr. Lady was covered in Psyche-Locks, wasn't she?" Pearl asked from the back seat.
Maya nodded, switching the classical music Nick had turned on to a J-Rock station. "And if she's lying, what does that mean? Is Robin… guilty?" Maya shuddered, perhaps remembering the last time Wright had defended a guilty man. Nick vowed he'd never let her or anyone else close to him go through a hell like that again
"Or it just means he's trying to protect his identity," Nick said, sighing deeply.
The car rolled along, passing Slice Pizza and approaching an intersection ahead where a traffic light had just turned red. "Slow down, Maya, we've got to stop here."
"I… can't!" Maya's voice was full of surprise and worry. "The brakes have just… stopped working!" The left lane was full of traffic; she couldn't swerve and she was going at least forty miles an hour as she barreled towards the red light…
"What do you mean the brakes stopped working!?" Nick shouted..
Maya pumped them as hard as her scrawny little legs could manage, shouting for them to work through clenched teeth. But to no avail; the careened forward and slammed into an SUV, the windows of the larger vehicle shattering. They'd only swiped it though, and the momentum spun them around as their tires screeched…
And their windshield filled with the image of a bus hurtling towards them, blowing its horn but unable to stop in time. Nick clutched his seatbelt and whispered a prayer and hoped someone was listening…
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!
The deafening sound of two metal objects slamming into each other filled ears of Wright and the Fey sisters… but they only felt a slight jolt…
When Nick finally braved opening his eyes, he saw their rescuer—a blue and white sedan that resembled the Gadgetmobile updated for the 21st century…
"The Scary-Cyborg-Man's car!" Pearl cried…
She was right: the T-Car was wedged in between the car and the bus, all four of the T-Car's tires now somehow coated in metal spikes.. After a few pedestrian screams and a lot of screeching brakes. The roof of the T-Car flew off and Cyborg climbed out, looking a bit dizzy but otherwise okay. He immediately ran over towards the car while a green blur appeared in front of them and ran towards the bus.
"It's Beast Boy," Maya observed.
She too was right, Wright observed. The blur transformed into a series of animals, tearing off the roof of the bus and then turning into a small brontosaurus and allowing the bus passengers to climb out over his tail and slide down his neck to the relative safety of the intersection…
All this occurred while Cyborg checked on Nick, Pearl, and Maya.
"You okay man?" asked the half-metal behemoth.
Nick nodded. "Yeah… Just a bit shaken up. What happened? Maya said the brakes weren't working, but they worked when we first left the court room."
"I have a feeling they were sabotaged," Cyborg said. "Someone wanted to make you dead—and make it look like an accident. Robin was right—"
"A little too right, if you ask me. Right, Wright?"
"Are you talking to me, Maya?" Nick goggled.
"How did Robin know exactly when to send you to prevent us from getting squished!?" Maya demanded, in full-attack mode. Phoenix hadn't seen her this up-in-arms since the most recent attempted cancellation of Steel Samurai.
"What?!" Cyborg gasped. "He didn't KNOW when to send me! He just suggested you might be in trouble. I was heading for your hotel."
Maya looked over at the car and shrugged, her fury mostly gone, but her suspicion still clearly there. "Nick… How can we be sure Robin is innocent when he won't even square with you on who he is?"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Cyborg blurted.
By this time, Beast Boy had joined them and interjected his two cents into the matter. "Robin would never try to kill you. Not only are you his lawyers, but also—he couldn't have gotten out of jail. How could he mess with your brakes from inside the detention center?"
Maya raised a finger to make a point, but had none. She lowered her finger and stared at Beast Boy's boots. "It just seems fishy. And… well.. I've had some bad experiences."
Wright frowned, he figured he might as well elaborate. "I was once coerced into defending a guilty client," he explained. "And Maya was their leverage. She was kidnapped by an assassin and…" Wright winced. "…Deprived of food for three days."
"Oh, man…" Cyborg grimaced. "I had no idea.."
"Look, if you haven't noticed," Beast Boy interjected, "We're standing around in an intersection at the scene of an attempted murder. We might want to head back to the tower before whoever set this up tries again!"
"Will the T-Car even drive after that?" Nick asked.
Cyborg grinned. "Oh yeah. It takes more than a little bus to put my baby out of commission."
"Alright," Maya said. "I trust you… Cyborg."
"Huh?"
"You're like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz," Maya beamed. "Even if Robin is scum, I know you have the biggest heart of anyone on the Titans."
Cyborg shrugged. "I uh.. guess.. I mean.. thanks."
Pearl giggled. "He's blushing! I didn't know robot people could blush!"
Beast Boy led Maya and Pearl over to the back seat of the T-Car, and Wright and Cyborg got into the passenger and driver's seats in the front. "You should see him when he's angry," Beast Boy said. "He turns as red as Superman's cape."
"KAME-HAME-HA!" Starfire screamed, jamming on the circle button on her controller. Her little spiky-headed anime man threw a huge blue energy beam at the shorter, spiky-headed anime man that Raven was controlling. Both girls were sitting on the floor with their backs against the sofa, and Raven began jamming on the buttons to avoide the attack.
This was the scene that Cyborg, Beast Boy, and the law offices walked into upon.
Everyone except Pearl facevaulted, and Raven glanced up from the game and sweatdropped.
"Budokai Tenkaichi, Raven?" Beast Boy's expression didn't change; his jaw practically dragged the floor as he took a step forward. "Seriously."
"Um…" Raven continued to sweat-drop. "This isn't what it looks like?" Dark energy reached out and turned off the power on the Gamestation XL, drawing a glare from Starfire. She simply hovered up from the floor and onto the couch.
Then Starfire noticed the guests and rushed over to greet them, her usual exuberance returning somewhere between the couch and the door. "Acquaintances Pearl and Maya. It is wonderful to see you again."
"I wish it were under better circumstances," Phoenix said with a sigh. "You wanna tell them or should I, Victor?"
Cyborg nodded. "Someone tried to kill Wright and the girls. Me and Beast Boy got there in time, but we're afraid they'll try again, so we brought them to the Tower for their protection."
"Are we going to coordinate on the investigation of murder?" Starfire inquired.
"What's left to do?" Wright shook his head. "Tomorrow von Karma is going to do everything in her power to discredit Dr. Thompkins' testimony. Then what? If we can't disprove Robin's identity—"
"We'll have to hope she doesn't come up with anything." Raven said.
"If you think that will happen you don't know Franziska von Karma. Even if she can't find any solid evidence to damage Thompkins, she'll take the smallest inconsistencies and destroy her with it."
Wright walked over and sat down in an easy chair in the Ops room, and leaned forward with his hand on his chin, looking like a clothed spiky-haired version of The Thinker. How do we do this he asked himself. How do we prove something that I'm not even sure of myself.
"Myself." He thought aloud. "I wonder…"
"Do you have an idea?" Starfire asked, hovering near the attorney. "You seem to be lost in thought."
"Just something that the kid—Eddie Bloominflaur—said." Wright looked at Cyborg. "Remember when he got worked up and said that he was the one who killed Robin?"
"You don't seriously think a little kid could ram a bo-staff through the guy's chest, do you?"
"No, that's not what I'm suggesting," Wright said. "But it's still something I want to look at."
"There might be something else you want to look at," came a previously unheard voice. All heads turned to see who had spoken, and found Yin standing in the hallway in jeans and a Yin-Yang T-Shirt, holding a large square object in his hands. As he approached, Phoenix realized it was a large sketch pad. Yin held up the pad, the drawings towards Phoenix and the others; one of the drawings was finely detailed, fitting the description of the mysterious villainess Ten, the woman who had attacked Raven, Star, and Maya a day earlier.
The other four sketches were less detailed, but came in clear-cut shapes and were all distinct, and they were all labeled: King, Queen, Jack, Ten, and Ace. Below them was written: THE ROYAL FLUSH GANG.
"What's this all about?" Phoenix asked the young elastic Titan.
"Well, I was Yahoogling villains with possible ties to this Ten character, trying to figure out who she was, and I pulled up a bunch of hits on this Royal Flush Gang."
"I heard about them," Cyborg said. "The Joker broke some government controlled metahumans out and sent them on a path of revenge a few years ago."
"But the originals are all gone," Yin said, sitting down at the Ops computer and bringing up a MyTube video—the images appeared with narration by a voice that Phoenix instantly recognized as the Joker—recently revealed to have been killed by Tim Drake in this very trial. The video showed a young black male withstanding a direct blast from a squad of flamethrowers and lifting a small building above his head, and later showing him fighting members of the Justice League, dressed in a red sleeveless unitard with a red flair collar, riding on a giant playing card.
"I take it that's the original ten," Raven said. "What happened to him?"
"Prison," Yin replied somberly. "Just like all other members of the Royal Flush Gang, save for the original Ace, who died a couple years ago of an aneurism. The most recent version of the Gang appeared in Las Vegas, raiding casinos. They don't seem to have any relation to the previous versions."
"So it's like a brain-bug," Maya said. "Something that gets in the public consciousness and then gets further and further from it's original meaning."
"Right," Yin said. "Like how the Evil Magistrate in Steel Samurai flipped out and killed his assistant one time in the first season and since then he's been written as almost completely evil with none of the subtle nuance his character was originally know for!"
Maya blinked, leaning back with her arms stretched out to her sides. "That's not what I was thinking about, but you're right!"
"Enough about television," Raven cut in. "What's so important about the Royal Flush Gang's involvement? Robin's never fought the Royal Flush Gang, to my knowledge." She hovered over to Yin and took the sketch pad from his hands.
"There are five RFG members—one for each card in a Royal Flush. King, Queen, Ace, Jack, and Ten. Just like there are five members in the Bloominflaur family."
"What? You're saying the whole family is in on this?" Nick shook his head. "How could such a normal-seeming family be a bunch of supervillains? The Bloominflaurs have no connections to crime and nothing that even approaches a criminal record. And somehow I doubt little Jasmine could fit the bill of Ten or Queen."
"There was something funny about that older kid, Ted." Cyborg pressed a few buttons on his left arm, which transformed into a hologram projector; it immediately emitted an image of Ted Bloominflaur, but not a photograph—an X-Ray scan.
"Where did you get that?" Beast Boy asked. "You weren't there."
"I saw him leaving the courtroom before the proceedings were over today," Cyborg replied, so I followed him out and took this picture as I passed him in the hall. Look near his right thigh."
The hologram zoomed in on the right thy, and there was clearly some sort of inconsistence—portion of what appeared to be bone stuck out. Then the skeleton vanished, and the extraneous piece remained.
"It looks like… A wire cutter.." Nick gasped. "The brakes on our car—"
"Yup. If he cut your brakes, this case gets a whole lot weirder, and more dangerous."
"But we can't prove that he did it," Raven reminded them. "The fact that he has wire cutters is certainly strange, but not illegal in and of itself."
"But we're getting nowhere." Wright stood up, his quandary over. Finally he had some clarity. "I've been going about this case I'm all wrong, doing exactly what Franziska wants me to. I went out of my way to prove that Robin isn't Tim Drake—a fact I'm not even sure of myself."
"Robin wouldn't lie in court," Yin blurted. "I mean.. I don't think he would.."
"It doesn't matter, because it's not relevant to the case anymore. We've proved the evidence was forged, hence the motive isn't there. Now I need to do what I do best."
"What's that!" Pearl shouted, gasping more than asking.
"I put the guy I think is guilty on the stand and grill them till they're extra crispy." Nick smirked, and stroked his chin. "Now we just need to gather some evidence and get our facts straight for the trial. I'd also like to give the crime scene a once-over before we head to trial tomorrow—we're going to be winging it, big time."
"Yay!" cried Pearl. "Wait, what is winging-it?"
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." The cool December breeze fluttered across the roof of Titans Tower, carrying Raven's mantra out into the world, even as the afternoon began to wane slowly towards dusk.
Soft footsteps alerted Raven to the presence of another on the roof with her, and she turned to greet the newcomer.
"Hi," Maya Fey said nervously. "Cyborg said you wanted to see me."
Raven nodded. "I wanted to talk to you about your powers."
Maya was clearly shocked, her eyes widening. "Powers!? What? I don't have any powers! Do I?"
Raven blinked. "You can summon the dead. I'm pretty sure that counts as a power."
"Oh, that," Maya visibly exhaled with relief. "It's not a power, it's my job. That's what Spirit Mediums do."
"No, most spirit mediums are frauds who rip off their clients for cheap parlor tricks. The fact that you can actually do it is astounding, Maya. But there's something you need to know about your abilities."
"Huh?" Maya sat down beside Raven, and leaned closer to her. "What do you know about the Kurain channeling techniques?"
"Your village was started by Ami Fey, an immigrant from Japan after the end of the second World War. She came to America with her husband, a Marine, and started your village, passing on what she'd learned from her ancestors in Japan to her descendants." Raven leaned back. "But I doubt even they knew the toll such techniques could take on the human soul."
"What?" Maya was shocked. "Are you saying I'm hurting Mia's soul any time I summon her?"
"Your sister," Raven began, "doesn't appear to be suffering from your channeling. I have a few guesses as to why that is but—" Raven trailed off, then turned, facing Maya directly. Raven took Maya's hands in her own and began channeling her energies, until the both of them were hovering slightly off the ground.
Raven then chanted a spell she'd been preparing since she'd first seen Maya transform into the likeness of her sister two days ago; energy began swirling around them and she felt the jewel on her ajna chakra get warm… And then everything went white even through her closed eyelids, her mind fluttering out of her body as Maya and Raven traveled to another plane of reality--
When she opened her eyes, the roof of Titans Tower was gone, and Raven and Maya were in a massive stone room, with equally gargantuan stone stairs leading up to a door. On that door were inscribed three words:
LIFE AND DEATH
Millions of lucent blue orbs were hovering around the door, and as they approached it they took human form, and a woman dressed in black and wearing an ankh necklace escorted them to the other side.
Maya screeched, recoiling from the sight, terrified by the surreal nature of the entire scene. "EEAUGH!! Where are we! Raven, take us back! Take me back! I don't like this place!"
"Relax," she said, projecting soothing emotions as best she could with her empathic powers. "We've not left the roof of Titans Tower. This is just a vision." Technically that wasn't totally true. Their bodies were indeed on Titans Tower, but their minds had left, their consciousness in a higher plane.
Raven took Maya's hand and the two of them hovered up to get a better view of the door…
"It's written in English," Maya said. "That's so weird—you think it would be written in the language of whoever built it. Unless the British built the universe." Maya gasped. "Wow! That would explain everything!"
"The door appears as close as to what your mind can comprehend," Raven said. "This is the barrier between this world and the afterlife. Death escorts all those she claims to the other side, and to tear someone back once they've passed beyond is risky. Depending on how long they've been gone and where they ultimately ended up, it may be impossible."
"Wow…" Maya stared at the souls of people as they crossed over. Some of them seemed content, others seemed terrified. Yet more seemed to be in a daze, not even noticing what was going on.
Maya turned and regarded Raven. "You said I could hurt people by channeling them? What about my sister?"
"Your sister is a special case; I believe she has an anchor, something here that tethers her to this world. A powerful connection to an object or person."
"Oh, I know what you mean!" Maya said. "The vase that Ami Fey's soul is trapped in, or the giant rock at the Kurain village that houses the souls of departed villagers—"
Raven nodded. "I suspect her tether to this world is—"
"ME!" Maya blurted. "Me and Pearly. That must be it. She stays here to help us out because we're her family!"
Raven blinked. That wasn't what she had meant to say—she was going to say that Mia's tether was Phoenix Wright. That was her theory, at least. But Maya's suggestion made just as much sense, and Raven had been basing the idea the tether was Wright solely on the notion that they had been involved romantically—something she wasn't even sure of.
The scene at the Door of Life and Death resolved back into the roof of Titans Tower as the two girls awoke from their trance.
"It's getting cold. We should get inside!" Maya stood and began to run towards the door to the Tower.
"I'll make some hot chocolate," Raven said as she followed the Spirit Medium. "I don't have to drink herbal tea all the time."
"Now this is weird," Cyborg said.
Yin craned his neck and then slid his rolling chair over to see what the Million Dollar Teen was talking about. "Huh?"
"I've been basically hacking into databases to see if I could find anything I missed about the Bloominflaurs, and as expected, I've come up with jack. Nothing's here at all. And in once case, there's things that should be there, but they aren't. Missing information."
"In English, please." Yin shrugged, not sure what Cyborg was getting at. It seemed like he was trying to build up Davis' anticipation.
"Medical records," Cyborg said. "I found Ted's birth certificate and a record of his high school graduation, but it's like the kid has never been sick or had an injury. It's like he's a non-entity, man. A walking John Doe."
Yin's teal eyes widened. "Vic, this is huge—I have no idea what it means, but it may be something that could break the case. Because if someone in that family is good enough to hack the tower, then how could they not be good enough to create a son they never had?"
"Right. I'm gonna go show Phoenix what we found."
"And I'm gonna search MyTube for videos that bash the Playstation 3," Yin said, matching Cyborg's level of seriousness pitch-perfectly.
Vic just shook his head and groaned as he left the room.
"Why did you bring us back to this place?" Starfire inquired as she hovered towards the bookshelf in the late Frank Newitt's office where Ten had sat disguised as a magic 8-Ball—somehow. "I failed to see any evidence yesterday, and I do not imagine that we shall find any more here today."
Her companion, Ragnarök sighed, glanced under the desk, and then placed both his gloved hands on it before answering. "Kori, I know this seems pointless, but Wright wanted us to investigate this. And as Cy pointed out, my visor might pick up something Raven's empathy missed."
"This is true," Starfire said. "You know, Collin—I admire you for this. You do not particularly like Robin, yet you are helping him through this crisis."
Rag shrugged. "Not liking someone doesn't mean I let them go down for a crime they didn't commit. Besides, Robin was the one who put my membership up to vote instead of letting his own bias kick me off the team. Granted, bias exists, but at least he recognized it."
"He is pleased with your progress." Starfire smiled. "As am I."
Ragnarök didn't say anything, instead tapping his visor with a finger and scanning along the walls and floors for anything at all that might have been missed the first fifteen times.
"Anything?"
"Well, I didn't see anything in infrared, but now I'm getting a really weird energy signature."
"Please define 'weird'—this word can mean many things in your language."
"I have absolutely no idea," Rag said. "But there's a lot of it around this globe."
Starfire observed Rag pick the globe up and examine it. He spun it around its axis a few times, before taking a picture of the Middle East. "I'm not sure why this thing calls Kandaq a Republic, but the weirdness of the energy on whatever this spectrum is might be a clue."
"We should return to the Tower... unless there is anything further you wish to investigate."
"Other than you, you mean?"
"What was that?"
Ragnarök jumped. "Nothing, nothing at all."
Rag flashed a strange grin that made Starfire blush slightly, yet also slightly unnerved her. She suspected that he was once again engaging on 'the hitting-on of girls' with her—
--An action, which, Robin informed her, had nothing to do with actually physically striking them.
Turning into certain animals was outright exhausting. Brontosauruses, for example. Their bulky bodies drained Beast Boy's considerable energy supplies faster than the end of a sugar rush in the middle of the desert. And yet, for the second time that day, Gar found himself transforming into one, this time to allow Pearl Fey and Phoenix Wright to climb onto the rooftop of the Obstinate Nickel grill and bar—the scene of the crime that started this whole ordeal.
Much of the rooftop was cordoned off with police tape, and the outline of the place where Frank Newitt's body had been found was still visibly outlined in chalk. Beast Boy watched Nick step in front of Pearl to shield her from the splotch of blood that rested against the air conditioner where the victim had met his end, Pearl's gasp making Beast Boy regret bringing the little Spirit Medium with them.
"Nothing looks amiss," Phoenix said. "I don't really feel right sniffing around up here after hours."
"Sniffing?" Beast Boy said. "That gives me an idea." Suddenly, he fell to the ground and became a bloodhound, drawing a giggle from Pearl.
Beast Boy began sniffing around the roof, especially around the spot where Newitt had fallen.
He resumed human form with a scowl on his face. "Dude, whoever killed this guy smells nothing like Robin, that's for sure. And it's familiar, somehow."
"Theodore?" Wright asked, his eyes narrowing.
Beast Boy felt his heart skip and his eyes widened. "You're right, Wright! I mean, that's who I think it is up here. I'll have to check again tomorrow to be certain, as a dog, but I'm like 90 positive."
"Unfortunately," Wright said, "I doubt the court will accept 'I transformed into a bloodhound and matched the scent of the killer to the scent of a witness' as acceptable testimony."
"Aw nuts, you're right." Beast Boy scratched his head. "But at least it gives you the guts to go after the Bloominflaur kid, right?"
"That it does. "
"Guys, there's someone watching us from that window," Pearl shouted.
Beast Boy turned and followed the finger Pearl was pointing with up to the apartment building above them. And through the window, he saw two things. The first to register was that the watcher had spiky hair.
The second was a single phrase:
Sniper Rifle.
Pure instinct took over Beast Boy's body as he leapt in front of Phoenix and Pearl and felt his right shoulder jerk back a split second before a resounding KABLAM echoed throughout the neighborhood…
Then he felt nothing but pain until blackness consumed his vision.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Wright demanded, standing over Raven in the safety of Titans Tower. As soon as the bullet had hit the young changeling, Wright had sprung into action. Before the attacker had a chance to reload he grabbed Pearl and hefted her into his right arm and grabbed the hand on Beast Boy's uninjured shoulder, then jumped off the Obstinate Nickel's roof onto a dumpster.
His knees were killing him and he'd broken multiple traffic laws—including driving without a license—to get back to the Tower all the while Pearl was crying in the passenger seat and Beast Boy was bleeding in the back. The escape wasn't exactly narrow, but as the adrenaline and endorphins calmed down, Wright's knees began to ache and he knew it was only a matter of time before the pain got worse.
"He'll be okay," Raven said. "But he'll need to rest."
The other Titans had gathered around as well, all looking worried and frustrated.
"That's two attempted murders in one day," Yin observed. "Whoever this is getting desperate and is afraid we're getting closer to the truth."
"Von Karma will have none of it," Wright muttered. "She'll argue that the attempted murders were Robin trying to throw off suspicion and that the attempts were meant to fail."
"But Robin was in his cell all day!" Starfire blurted.
"Power went out today at the detention center," Cyborg informed them. "Shortly after I left Robin there. No security feed and Robin was unobserved inside his room the whole time."
"How much you want to bet that was planned by whoever framed him?" Raven asked sarcastically.
"More importantly, why would the guys who framed him be playing their hand so far from the vest—to mix two analogies?" Phoenix stroked his chin, noting that he probably needed to shave before the trial tomorrow—and suddenly not caring as he glanced down at the sixteen-year-old kid who'd just taken a bullet for him. "Either they really are getting desperate as Yin said—or this is part of a broader scheme."
"How well can one, or even five people plan? Especially when two of them are six and twelve." This from Raven.
Beast Boy at this moment rolled over, groaning and partially opening his eyes. "Dude, did someone get the license plate number on that armor piercing round?"
"You're gonna be fine, man," Cyborg said. "Take it easy. Raven did what she could but you still need to rest."
Raven stepped forward. "Your armor took most of the impact, but it came on through anyway and broke you collar bone. If it hadn't hit your bone it probably would have hit Phoenix and Pearl as well."
"It didn't hit them?" Beast Boy said. "Good. It means all this suffering isn't pointless. Ouch. Ouch…"
Raven leaned over him. "Gar, did you see who it was that shot you?"
"Eh, he had spiky hair and wore a mask, which narrows it down to the suspect and perpetrator." Beast Boy shook his head. "Of course I know there's no way it was Robin."
Every one of the Titans nodded in agreement, but Phoenix then heard something that he didn't think anyone else heard. Something Ragnarök muttered under his breath. "I know Tim would never do that."
Nick goggled, searching the faces of the other Titans for a reaction to what he'd just heard, but the rest of them were too busy making Beast Boy feel comfortable or too lost in thought to notice.
"If it's not any trouble," Wright began, "I'd like to get up to the detention center before visiting hours are over. I want to talk to Robin a bit before tomorrow's trial."
The Titans began glancing at each other, and finally all eyes rested on Cyborg. "Yeah, I guess I'll run you up there," Vic said at length.
"Thanks, Cyborg."
Wright slipped into the detention center visiting chamber, Cyborg standing outside his door on guard duty (and jamming any potential listening devices in the area), and strode over to the chair. The guard sent Robin in. Nick immediately noticed that Robin looked completely exhausted, his head drooping forward and his gait slow and laborious—for Robin, at least.
"You look terrible," Wright said.
"I've not slept much since I got here. I'm afraid someone is going to try to take DNA samples to test my identity."
"Is that a problem—if you don't have a criminal record…"
Robin exhaled sharply, cutting him off. "It's complicated."
"I suppose it is… Tim." Wright clutched his Magatama as he said the final word, and saw five psyche-locks instantly appear on his young defendant.
"If you're trying to bait me into a trap, you're going to have to try harder," Robin said, glaring at the attorney through his mask.
"I wasn't trying to trap you. I just wanted to see your reaction."
"Mr. Wright, I'm not sure what you're thinking, but the idea that you're trying to prove I'm Tim Drake is disconcerting. Supposing you could do this, it would damage your case."
"Would it? We've proved the evidence was forged. Beast Boy and Cyborg have reason to believe that the older child of the Bloominflaurs is the killer. And Beast Boy's been shot."
One of the Psyche-Locks shattered, Robin's eyes widening so that his mask slits were large white circles. "Shot?!"
"We were investigating the crime scene, and someone tried to kill me for the second time today. Beast Boy took the bullet for me, and I'm not going to dishonor his sacrifice by making an argument in court that I know to be a lie."
"If my identity is exposed because of you—Tim Drake or otherwise…" Robin started leaning forward towards the glass that divided them…. But he trailed off, no threat following the conditional. His teeth were bared, though, and the usually-collected Robin was seeping emotion through his mask. Wright smiled inwardly as two more Psyche-Locks vanished.
"Assuming I'm right, I'm not going to expose you," Wright said. "But I need to know. For my own sake. Are you Timothy Drake?"
"Of course not!" Robin blurted, the chains on his Psyche-Locks getting tighter. "It's the very fact that you're prying that bothers me."
"But your name is Tim. I heard Ragnarök let it slip today after Beast Boy said his assailant had spiky hair."
Robin growled, leaning back in his seat. Neither of the two remaining locks budged an inch. "Even assuming my name is Tim, that doesn't prove anything. Tim is a common name. The fact that his attacker had spiky hair is of more interest to me than whatever Ragnarök might have blurted."
"Why is that?"
"The guy who stole my bo-staff had spiky hair."
"And a domino mask?"
"Yeah. The hair was shorter than mine, and the mask seemed red in the admittedly limited light."
Wright smirked. "Did he wear a cape?"
"No." Robin answered evenly—and then he goggled. "Wait. Yin said that in the Turnabout Courtroom you could indict a witness—right?"
Phoenix nodded. "We're all but convinced this Ted Bloominflaur is the killer, and I'm going to prove it tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is all you have left. That's why you're asking about my identity. You're arguing that it doesn't matter. That—we've been going about this the wrong way."
"I can't win that way, can I? I can't disprove the truth. That's why Raven was leeching your emotions when Thompkins was describing what happened to Drake." Wright stared directly into Robin's eyes; despite the boy's imposing glare, Nick didn't waver until both of the remaining Psyche-Locks shattered completely.
Robin leaned forward and put his head against the glass, and Nick slipped the Magatama back into his pocket. The Boy Wonder remained silent for a time, simply closing his eyes and breathing, perhaps lost in thought.
Finally, he spoke. "No… you can't."
"Then Wayne really is—"
Robin cut him off with a curt shake of his head. "Batman and Wayne are completely different. I went to Batman for help solving the murder of my father—then I found out that it was Wayne's money funding the Batman. I became Wayne's adopted son, and Batman's apprentice. I'm still not sure why they allowed it. But I know why they fired me."
"Fired you?" Wright gasped. "Huh?"
"After the Joker incident—yeah, that really happened—Bruce and Batman both forbid me to be Robin. I think Wayne was just afraid I'd get hurt, that he'd lose me like he lost his parents."
"But Batman?"
"Batman was different. He could barely stand to look at me after what happened. I'd taken a life, and in his eyes, that meant I wasn't trustworthy as a sidekick."
"So you set off on your own." Wright was beginning to understand, finally, what made the kid tick. He wanted so badly to do something to help and yet couldn't. He felt he had to prove himself to Batman, to prove he was more than the kid who killed the Joker.
"I came to Jump City to prove I could fly solo, and ended up starting a team. Irony bites."
"It's okay… And Ti… Robin… Thanks for being honest with me."
Robin looked up and shook his head. "None of this can come out in court. None of it."
"I understand." Nick got up, satisfied with what had happened, though still feeling slightly guilty about the perjury they'd already committed. "So, who is Batman?" Wright asked as he left.
"Don't push it," Robin growled.
Nick chuckled, then got up and left the room. It would be a hard battle tomorrow in court, and he needed all the rest he could get.