C.C.C.: Okie dokie artichokies… Here I am, and back!! Hope you enjoy the new instalment of 'The Title's Too Flippin' Long'.

C.M.: Best of wishes, we no own.

C.C.C.: Food for thought – PWNed, or someone that I know is…

XD Enjoy! Or not, I suppose there's the whole freedom of thought thing!

--

OOTFPITF 3

--

The Titans all craned their heads around the rarely used object, so foreign to them that a film of dust was beginning to cover its keys: The phone.

There were quite a few reasons as to this dial-up-someone object had been rarely used: There simply wasn't a need within the Titans, and of course there were each of the Titan's personal reasons.

Raven had expressed her dislike for phones in the past, promptly blowing one up by accident as it was ringing when she was trying to meditate.

Beast Boy just didn't answer them. The Game Station and the phone were a distance from each other, and to him it was relatively pointless to 'leave Mega Monkeys 5 just to pick up the phone and listen to some telemarketer saying that he can get us a bigger roof satellite. I mean, come on Rob! We don't need it!'

Starfire, after the incident in which the boys had gone to the Tournament of Champions, had also managed to not like the phone. She felt that something of its structure would be better fitted as a 'Tameranean Glorkag Base'. It was only before she did go to such measures that the Titans realised her actions and told her not to, needing a speech from Robin to persuade her otherwise.

Cyborg didn't need it either. He of course, had a phone on his arm that was more suited to matters than having to pick up the plastic and listen to a telemarketer for he had 'caller ID, and Rob we really do need it on that phone.'

Luckily for Cyborg and Beast Boy, eventually the Telemarketers stopped calling.

Robin tended to stay away from phones too, simply because they usually meant that a call to his guardian was in order, something that wasn't the cheeriest thing on the planet, especially as he was a week late this time.

Thus, all of the Titans gathered around the celestial object known as a "phone" was a rarity indeed. Beast Boy answering said object, was all the more rarer.

"Um… hello?" He said, looking around at the Titan's faces as though begging for one of them to take the phone. None did.

Resigned to his fate, Beast Boy continued to listen to the person on the other line for a good fifteen seconds before turning to Robin and saying an, "It's for you, dude."

Robin took the phone, an image of his guardian flashing in his mind before he heard the voice of a woman, probably late 30s from her voice, go through the phone line. "Hey there kid, your buddy doesn't seem to have much of a clue, you know."

A pause as he tried to figure out what a freaky woman wanted and why she was phoning him up, but then he relaxed. Slightly better than talking to Bruce, he supposed.

"Umm… Kid, you do realise that I'm still here…?" the voice sounded again over the line, and Robin regained reality.

He gulped saliva before answering, "Yes, Ma'am, how may I help you?" Now he felt like a telemarketer. Maybe it'd be better if it was Bruce…

"Ma'am?! What're you chit-chatting about kid? Make's me feel old as two bingo players combined!" he shrank back a second before recovering his posture as the shrill voice overtook the line, before it calmed down and the woman spoke again, "Right, kid, here's the deal. It's Miss now from you, I don't like feeling old. You keep on talking and I'll start imagining wrinkles, and believe you me, neither of us want that."

What else could he say to that but, "Uhh, alright I suppose."

"Darn tooting it's alright, kid. Now, you listen here, 'cause I have some specific information for you and only you. Let any of those cutie friends of yours pick up another phone or listen in – and believe me, that I will know… - and I'm afraid that I'll have to not let you in on my little… Shall we say 'piece of knowledge?" the voice stopped again as if waiting for his response.

He sighed, pressing his lips together as he looked around at his friends, recently becoming disinterested at the woman on the phone and resuming normal activities. The only one left was Starfire, and as he looked to her eyes she smiled at him and nodded her head. Well, okay then.

"Done. Now, what do you know?" More silence on the line, and then the sounding of cards.

"I'm afraid that's a bit… risky, wouldn't you say so kid? How about… I give you an address and you follow me like dogs to a trail?" He growled under his breath, too low for the phone. What was this woman playing at?! He had a city to watch, he couldn't go chasing some lady who was probably experiencing a costly mid-life crisis!!

He ground his teeth, he wouldn't spare more than half an hour with this woman, "Fine. Where do you want to go?"

"Hmmm… How's about… Pier 41? That should give you a good idea of where this is going, kiddo." His eyes shot up, and Starfire took a slight step back as his head jerked, but elsewise seemed to not notice a thing. Not the first time that he was thankful for a mask.

"What time?" the memory was linked to horrid ones, but this woman seemed to just treat it all fine.

"Now don't want the other kiddies following along, now do I? Say, three AM, and be sure to tuck them in bed first. Because if I even catch sight of them… You'll feel my wrath." The carefree tone that the woman had held for the whole conversation was lost on the sentence, and he could almost picture eyes narrowing. "So… Sound good to you?"

It didn't, but he said 'Yes' anyway.

--

After a quick meal of microwaved ravioli, canned style, three Ninja/Zombie/Romance films, the Titans were in bed. The lack of 'real' food was due to a fight which had ended up burning the supposedly 'well done, you can still eat it…' '…if you dare, Cy', steaks, in which Cyborg personally threw Johnny Rancid in jail.

Robin sighed, yanking cape around his neck as he watched the security camera outside of his room. Recently the other Titans had taken to making sure he was in bed, and Cyborg had turned up his hearing to add to it. His stasis sleep could now be interrupted quite easily by someone unknowing (he didn't want to go into detail on how he'd found out, but Beast Boy's year old boom box coming to life on full blast at 4 in the morning did seem to go quite in depth…), and chances are that if he didn't know Robin would be that person. Well, not tonight.

He yawned and picked up his steel toed boots, making sure to hold his hands between the metal. Clipping his belt around his waist, he walked out of his door and into the hallway. Taking the stairs and cringing at the cold metal, he made his way down towards the garage. Walking his bike out until he was sure that no one would notice, he rode it, making his way towards Pier 41.

The ride was cold for Jump's usual summer nights, the wind ripping away his body head as he rode towards the docks. Soon, he would find out what this woman was talking about – either that, or what she was on.

He stepped off of the R Cycle at the entrance to the docks, making small steps towards his destination. He started to wonder whether or not he wanted to do this, would it be better if he had Star flying behind him? No. Whatever this was, it seemed that the woman would know… Then again, she may never find out….

It was too late now, anyway. He scrunched up his face and scanned the docks, and saw a woman sitting on a box 30 ft away, her legs crossed and eyes pinned on him.

He started to walk forward and began to make out her features more, a soft nose and eyes that had the beginnings of laughter lines forming around them. Her lips seemed to be normal, but with an artificial pinkish tinge. Her skin was white with a tan, her brown hair falling in curls on her shoulder. She was well built – that was all. Nothing about her suggested anything above average, other than that and the clothing – black shirt and black pants, with 4 inch heel boots. They had a cut to them that seemed to remind him of mid life crisis, and he grinned as he remembered his thoughts on the phone.

"What're you grinning at, brat? I should hope that you're not mocking your own informant." She yelled out, stretching a hand out to cup half of her mouth. The other one was poised on her left leg, a red stone ring covering her middle finger twitching in anxiety.

He walked over calmly, feeling his confidence return slightly. Nothing but probably a journalist getting research into the gangs – what was left of them. This woman probably didn't know anything at all about Slade, and that's what was key. Jump was safe.

"Slade's back." She leaned forward on the box, the black belt around her waist straining against her. Robin's mouth fell open silently, his confidence gone. She tapped her foot against he box before she opened her mouth again – oh why couldn't she just keep it shut? – "I know that your team thinks that he's gone. I also know that you don't. You want to know how?" She grinned and rocked her body side to side for a second, being cocky.

He ground his teeth together, she was waiting for him to answer with a snide smile on her face, "And just how would you know that, Miss?" Oh, how he wanted to just walk away and start on it. Instead he was here waiting for this woman to tell him her info, which probably wouldn't be worth anything!

In a second her eyes had narrowed and her hand came flying at him, her body covering the two feet between them quickly. She slapped him – hard, and then she was sitting on the box again, legs crossing. He looked up and there she was, wiping her hand on her pants, smiling again.

"Why… Why'd you do that?!" He was yelling then, hand on his cheek as he watched her continue to smile at him – the lunatic!

"Simply disrespect." Flashbacks of his time as Slade's apprentice flew to his mind, but at least Slade had acted sane. Thank heaven that this woman didn't have anything like that on him… "I came all the way out here, offering you information like the kind young lady," she paused then, her smile growing dreamy as she stared off into space for a small spell, "that I am," her eyes hardened and glared at him for a moment before becoming soft and dreary, how could this woman even know about Slade? "And, because I've come all of this very long way, you're going to listen. If I have to kidnap you and take you to Slade himself, I shall, kiddo. But that wouldn't be very hard, you know."

He looked at her again, before coming out with the question that her body language told him that she wanted – "And why's that, Miss?" No sarcasm this time, just a question, on the surface, that is.

Another smile, this time reflecting a cat's as she pondered – a cat about to eat a mouse. "Because he's right behind you."

"What?!" He whipped around and spotted the orange and black mask, Slade was standing there, and lunged at the man. Slade just seemed to chuckle and threw him towards the ground. The woman laughed again, and walked over towards Robin, whispering to him as she bent down – "I think that you may have lost already, kiddo."

Slade was walking up to him, how he hated that man… He reached down and grabbed Robin, dragging him up by his cape to make him look him in the eye. That same blue-gray eye glinted at him, mocking him from the shadows every time he failed to arrest a crook, every time he made a mistake, always there – mocking him… and now it was real…

Robin struggled under his grasp, coughing as the cape strained against his neck. Slade's eye continued to examine him; the low laughs falling from the grates of the mask, Robin's nightmare come to greet reality.

The man reached forward and grabbed his hair with one hand, gripping his skull and turning his head towards him, forcing him to look at him. Robin grimaced and continued to struggle, not even Mad Mod's chairs would make him look at Slade now, nothing-

"I have charges set at the Tower, my boy. One push of the button," old words come to haunt him again, "and the Titans will be annihilated in their sleep. Now, I suggest you listen to my… proposition." Robin stared in hatred and awe at the man – why couldn't he just give up?! Why?! Slade shook him again, realising Robin's train of thought straying and forced him to look at him again. "I know what you'll be thinking next, boy. You see, what happens when the Titans leave the Tower? Well, after tonight my robots will cut one of them. The cut will heal quickly, thanks to Raven. But it won't really be her. There will be a synthetic toxin in them, lying dormant until my command. And we wouldn't really want that, now would we?"

He shook Robin again, demanding an answer through his physical abuse. Robin swallowed, hoping that his saliva would take his pride with it, and glared up at Slade. He wanted to look away, not think about it. But he was a leader, and he had to face up to this. Slade was his responsibility, no matter what anyone said. He would deal with him.

"No… I wouldn't want that." He managed to spit out, his head being forced upward again by Slade after he'd dared to peek down.

"Good, that's right. Now, that wasn't too hard, was it Robi-" Slade's voice cut short as Robin fell to the ground, his eyes going wide. The docks disspated and he was back to where he was when the woman had slapped him.

"I know that Slade's back, because of that, kid. I know that Slade's back because he contacted me – only he never really contacted me. He got in – through my head." He looked up and the mood swing had occurred, her angry eyes melting it seemed to sadness as tears began to fall.

"He killed my husband, kid. Then he did that to me. It's hallucinogenic dust, but you can't get rid of it. It acts more like a virus, than anything else. Somehow Slade's managed to go beyond robots and into biological warfare. I'm the messenger, and that's the threat. Slade's back – and he wants you." She raised her hand with the red ring on it towards him, pointing with those drenched eyes.

"Follow me – he told me where to meet him. His robots told me and I don't think that I'll ever forget," a choked off sob, "it forced me to listen when I was still soaked in my husband's blood." The tears fell again, and he began to follow the woman towards the warehouses.

--

C.C.C.: Ah, the wonders of mini-eggs. Get's you to write a semi-long chapter without collapsing from boredom.

XD Until next time!