A/N: I didn't re-read this chapter, so please excuse minor errors. The next chapter will be up within the next two days, since we have a long weekend. Love to my peeps, and I hope y'all enjoy it. Reviews are the best presents an author can get!

Dislclaimer: If Teen Titans were mine, Robin would make out with Starfire when he saw her again in "Titans Together" instead of just saying "I could use a hand". Assholes. Really, just make their reunion better. Please. For me? I'll give you a cookie.

Away form my ranting we go...

TT2

Tuesday September 15, 2019

Four days passed. The few days in which we had not seen the Titans had been rather busy for them. There were two attacks in one day, one of robbers and one of a new-comer villain named "It". She was able to contort her body in amazing ways, change her appearance, make herself grow, and more. She had proved quite a challenge, but in the end it was Kimi who had knocked her out. After that day, there was an attack a day, all of them committed by unimportant robbers. It had been busy, but the Titans had seen it as an opportunity to improve their skills.

Sara was very suspicious of her counterpart for the next couple of days. Sara stated Clara had been glowing ever since the night of the power outage, smiling much more and more willing to laugh at something Taku said. Scary.

"I'm scared of Clara," Kimi stated Tuesday while training. "There's definitely something up."

"I think she and Taku finally got it on," Kyle stated.

"You are such a weird-o," Sara stated, rolling her eyes. "But she's only acted like this once before, and that was-well-" in all truth, it had been when she was with Sean "-when she was in love."

"Clara was in love?" the three teammates present, Kimi, Danny, and Kyle, gasped.

"Yea…" Sara trailed off, looking about to see if anyone was eavesdropping (like Clara), before pulling them all from what they had been doing and gathering them in a huddle. "Don't tell her I told you this, but in our freshman year of high school, she was in love with her best friend, Sean. They had been going out for almost two years when he got into a car accident and died."

"That's horrible!" Kimi cried softly, inconspicuously grabbing her own boyfriend's hand. "I'd die if that ever happened to Danny."

"Well, Clara did, in a way. To say she was upset was an understatement. She was a wreck. Eventually, she got over it, but it still hurts. And that time, when she was in love, was the only time I've ever seen her as happy as she is now," Sara whispered. "It's…scary."

"Do you think that might have something to do with the glittering black rose Taku saw in her room?" Kimi asked inquisitively.

"Maybe…" Sara trailed off. "But, if I am correct, and she is in love, who could it be?"

"Is there some way you could read her mind and hear what she is thinking?" Danny asked Sara.

Sara thought for a moment. "I am able to do that, but not to Clara. I can't read her mind, because it would cancel out both our powers and I'd be blocked from her mind and temporarily power-zapped."

"Then, we'll have to do this my way," Kyle told them. "With good old-fashioned spying."

"How do you suggest we get along with that?" Kimi asked.

"Sara," Kyle started, pointing to her. "You have to get into her room somehow when she's not in there. Go now if you have to, since she's occupied with training. Look for anything that might give us a hint as to why she's acting so weird."

"Got it," Sara stated. "I'm going now. Call my communicator if she excuses herself from training." Kyle nodded and watched as she quickly walked away.

"Kimi, I want you to talk to her…ask her about life, how things are going," he told Kimi. "Tell her you've noticed she's been smiling a lot. Ask why." Kimi nodded in understanding. "Make up an excuse to go train near her and start up a conversation, ok?"

"Yes sir!" Kimi replied, saluting, and then breaking out into a grin before marching away.

"Danny!" Kyle demanded, taking his attention away from Kimi. Danny raised his eyebrows in questioning. "I know you and Clara don't have such a strong bond as Kimi and Sara have with her, but see if you can change that. I want you to take note of changes in her behavior, and then report back to me, ok?"

"That I can do," he replied. "Do you want me to take actual notes, sir?" he asked in a military-style voice.

"Call me sir ever again and I will smack you upside the head," Kyle replied. "And no, making mental notes will suffice."

"Yes, dude," he replied, in the same military-style voice.

"Get back to training, soldier!" Kyle ordered, before laughing. Danny, too, started laughing, and before long they had gotten back training.

TT2

It was midnight when the Titans got the call. Black Baron had broken into a technologic laboratory only two minutes from the tower.

They were on the road by three after the hour, and Hawk was eager to kick Baron's butt this time. Taku took the time to realize Clara seemed as if she were having an internal battle.

"Clare," he started, stretching his limbs to keep up with his teammates. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Nothing important," she replied. "I'm just thinking."

They came to a halt in the parking lot of what was a large two-story building. It wasn't large in the sense that it was tall, only that it covered almost a quarter of a square mile. "Titans, one of you hang back and guard the door!" Sara ordered. "Just in case we see a few of Baron's friends tonight."

Taku hung back, not willing to pull down the rest of the team if he were seriously hurt. He nodded to the rest of his team, signaling to them he would be fine, and then ran inside.

"First floor, room B108," Hawk read from his communicator. "C'mon."

He ran forward, taking a sharp turn in a hallway that was clearly labeled "B Hallway". He ran down, reading labels on the doors and found B108. "Titans, GO!" Hawk ordered, watching his teammates run past him and into the room. It was only dimly lit.

"Shit!" a voice cursed in the darkness, and emerged carrying a small burlap sack. "You Titans just won't give up, will you?" Baron spat vehemently.

"Neither will you, so it works out evenly," Hawk retorted. "Moonfire, Clara, attack maneuver six!" Moonfire flew forward, her starbolts fueled and her eyes glowing midnight blue.

"Dekna gokta bu ogna!" she screamed in Tamaranian, to effectively distract him, before shooting him with four of her starbolts. He was caught off guard and they hit him square in the chest.

He yelled out in pain and fell backwards. Clara bit her lip, but either way came forward and let a spell slip off her lips to body bind him. He rolled over to avoid the spurt of dark magic and jumped to his feet.

"You'll blow us all to high heaven!" he screamed. "The chemicals in here are dangerous!" He pulled a grappling hook from his belt and aimed it towards the high ceiling. He used it to swing himself over the five Titans present and begin running out the door.

Danny was the first to react, followed by Kyle. Danny began creating fire with his mind, bringing up walls of fire to try and trap him, but Baron would run right through them and would not have a scratch on him. His suit was most likely impervious to fire.

"Hawk!" Danny called.

"Way ahead of you!" he continued running and sprinted ahead of Danny, with Sara next to him. Hawk pulled a disk-bomb from his belt and threw it to Baron's feet. Baron, though, jumped and did a roll before it could explode with him just above it.

Baron stopped short, his slashes extended from the back of his hand, and swiped at Hawk. It scratched him right in the chest, ripping open his suit and starting to bleed profusely.

"Kyle!" Sara screamed, running back to help him where he had staggering against a wall with a hand on his wound.

"No!" he gasped. "Keep going! I'll be fine!"

Sara bit her lip but chose to believe him, continuing to run with Danny, Clara, and Kimi.

"One down, five to go," Baron quipped. "Hey, where's rubber-boy?"

But his question was not answered. Instead, he ran through a door and up a flight of stairs. Sara spat one of her spells and a large white shield flew up in front of him. He stopped short and looked around, before beginning to use the stair railing to climb around the shield.

"Crap, this guy is good!" Danny yelled, running past the deteriorating shield as Sara pulled it down.

"Not for long!" Sara responded, flying up the stairs and landing just in front of the door to block his way. She pulled up two shields crossing to form an 'X' in front of her as he tried to harm her with the backs of his hands.

"Get out of my way!" he grunted, pushing her back so she slammed into the door.

"No!" Sara retorted defiantly. "Creon Kar'n Letrop!"

Black Baron was immediately bound at the feet by a thick rope, but before Sara could react he had pulled out a silver knife and cut through the rope with one easy slash. He pushed past her and opened up the door, running out into the chilly midnight air.

Danny had disappeared as Clara, Sara, and Moonfire came forward on the roof and cornered him. He stopped and turned a little, so he was facing Moonfire. Her arms were extended and she had two potentially dangerous starbolts fueled up. "One wrong move and you'll wish you were never born."

But he didn't listen and pulled out a silver sphere, about an inch big. He threw the sphere at Sara, and she immediately began having spasms and fell to the ground. He struck his hand out and had aimed lower, gashing Moonfire's stomach. If she were human, she might've passed out, but being Tamaranian helped her to endure the pain. Her people are most resilient. He turned to face Clara, but his hand stopped midway while reaching for his belt. He looked at her for a minute, before taking off in the other direction. Clara ran after him, but that wasn't necessary for Danny had appeared on the top of the building, his body covered in rock, so he looked like a poorly created version of the Thing.

He struck, punching his fists towards the ground and missing Baron by inches. Baron, though, fell to the ground after stumbling a bit. Moonfire, after she had regained herself, was able to stand just above him and begin shooting her starbolts at him until he was knocked unconscious.

"I'm going to go find Kyle!" Sara called, seeing they had taken out Baron. "Clara, wrap him up."

Clara performed a body-binding spell on Baron so he wouldn't be able to move anything but his eyes and his mouth.

Danny walked over to Kimi, and conjured some water to press to her wound. The water immediately washed away the blood and began healing the gash. "Whoa," she breathed. Danny smiled up at her, before he began to walk towards Baron's body. "That's a new trick."

"C'mon," Danny started with a toothy smile. "Let's get him out to Hawk's motorcycle. We'll need to take him back to the tower for questioning."

Sara flew as fast as she could down the stairwell and towards the spot where she had last seen Kyle. He was still slumped against the wall, trying to regain enough strength to stand up, and he was still bleeding though the speed had reduced.

"Kyle!" Sara gasped, flying up to him and kneeling next to his body, propped up against the wall. "You said you'd fine! You're not fine! Look at you! Oh I swear the nerve of some boys lying so blatantly to a girl like that you're such a-"

But he cut her off, completely ignoring her rant. "What happened?" he asked, wincing slightly as Sara removed his hand and looked at the blood staining his suit.

"We beat him. We've got him. We're taking him back to the tower to interrogate him. Don't worry, it's ok," she told him, summoning up her power to try and heal him. "That's got to hurt."

"More than you can imagine," he groaned in reply. Sara took his hand and squeezed it lightly.

"This is going to hurt a little," she warned him. "Deep wounds always hurt when you try to heal them with magic. Just squeeze my hand if you're in pain. Martanna Kiannar."

A soft glow encased his chest and the skin began to repair itself. Kyle closed his eyes and squeezed her hand, only lightly, though, for he did not want to seem weak. In fact, Sara was probably squeezing his hand more than he was squeezing hers.

"Are you ok?" she asked, running a finger along the scar. "Does it hurt?"

"Only when you touch it," he replied truthfully.

"Oh," she breathed, blushing. Swiftly, she retracted her hand. "Sorry."

"It's ok. Thanks," he told her. He sat up and groaned a little bit more. Sara raised her hand and began stringing bits of his russet hair through her fingers. He sighed in contentment and closed his eyes. "It's great to have two little doctors on the team."

"And it's great to have a few patients," she replied with a genuine smile.

"Maybe I'll have to get hurt a little more often so you have a patient to practice on," he suggested, smirking.

"That would be nice," she responded, smiling back, and resting her hand on the back of his neck. Instead of making another move, like she knew she wanted to, Sara looked away. This was hardly the time to 'bond' with a teammate. "Come on, we've got to go help the others."

Sara missed the discouraged look on his face.She stood and brushed herself off, before lending a hand to Kyle to help him up. Though she had already helped him up, they didn't release each other's hands. "Let's go," he started in a serious tone, beginning towards the roof, tugging on her hand.

"Help us!" Kimi yelled from the end of the hallway where they were trying to carry Baron down the hallway.

"Clare, why didn't you just levitate him?" Sara asked, looking to her sister with an eyebrow cocked.

Kimi and Danny dropped Baron's body and turned to stare at Clara, half-angry, half-surprised. "You can levitate bodies!" they both asked angrily.

"It was more fun watching you guys struggle," she replied innocently.

"Nice," Kyle stated, watching her smile innocently. She could be a real witch when she wanted to.

"Talk about nice," Danny stated, with a smirk, nodded towards their joined hands. The pair blushed and immediately let go.

"C'mon, let's blow this pop stand…Taku's still out there waiting," Clara reminded them, her eyes glowing black, as Baron's body was surrounded by a black aura.

Sara helped Kyle walk, for he was a little dizzy, Clara with Baron behind them, as Kimi and Danny brought up the rear.

"Hey you guys!" Taku started happily as they walked out into the crisp night air. "How'd you guys do?"

"We finally got him," Kyle announced with a smile.

The six teens began back towards their home, an air of confidence surrounding them. They finally brought down their biggest enemy. He was strapped on the back of Hawk's motorcycle, really the only way to transport him to the tower so they could interrogate him.

"What the-" he started as he began to wake up when Clara was floating him towards their cell room. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You're in Titans Tower," Clara responded. The other Titans had gone ahead to set up the cell he was to be put in.

"And you've been beaten by the Teen Titans," Sara spat. "Hurts your pride, doesn't it? Feels good to me." She smiled triumphantly.

"Shut up, you," Baron growled under his breath, glaring daggers at her. "Why can't I move?" he snarled at Sara, but Clara stepped forward, stopping at his side, to answer his question.

"Body binding spell," she replied simply, but secretly looked at him with doleful eyes, as if saying sorry. "You'll only be able to move your eyes and your mouth for the next five minutes."

Black Baron sighed in aggravation.

The two twins arrived in the room where his cell would be situated, and saw a cell with closely set bars made up of titanium and a small top, only about eight feet tall. Clara levitated Baron's body into the cell and let Kyle close the door and lock it shut. Sara took off the body-binding spell and a sigh escaped her lips.

"Nothing more satisfying than a successful day's work," Sara stated, leaning against Kyle as she watched Baron sit on the floor of the cell and snarl.

"You can say that again," Kyle stated. "So, what she would we do with him?"

"Are you kidding me? I plan on getting a good night's sleep before we get to the interrogation," Taku stated, stifling a large yawn. "I don't know about y'all, but I think this should wait until morning."

"Taku's right," Kyle announced. We'll keep him here for the night and question him tomorrow. Titans, get some sleep. Meet in here tomorrow at ten."

Clara snorted. "Like I'll be up by then."

"Yea, what she said," Baron mumbled.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Then set your alarm. I don't care, we're all going to be here at ten."

"I'm not," Baron mumbled, but no one caught it.

"Let's all get a good night's sleep," Kyle told them. "Titans, move out."

TT2

Clara had gone to her room and changed for bed; she was in a pair of Eagle High School Soccer sweatpants, a black tank top with a silver skull on the chest, and the beanie she had practically stolen from Baron. She walked to her window and stood there for a few minutes, watching the full moon shine in the night sky.

An idea then struck her, and she began out her door and towards Kyle's room. Once in front of the door that bore the same name, she knocked softly.

"Mmm…yea?" he trailed off sleepily as he came to the door, rubbing his eyes. Apparently, he had just laid down in bed when Clara had knocked.

"You haven't initiated lockdown yet, right?" Clara asked. "I want to get something to eat."

"Oh no, thanks for reminding me," he replied. "Yea, feel free to go get something to eat, but lockdown the tower when you're done, ok?"

Clara nodded in understanding and bade him goodnight, before starting up towards the kitchen. After she had grabbed a piece of fruit, a bag of Doritos, and a bottle of water, she began down in the direction of her room.

Instead of going to the seventh floor, though, she stopped at the eighth floor and began wandering the hallway. She came upon a door clearly labeled, and took a deep breath before silently entering.

"Who's there?" a voice snapped.

Clara turned on the light by the side of the door, and the only light in the room came on with a distinct buzz. "It's me," she whispered softly. Clara sauntered forward and sat besides the cell, dropping the food on the ground. "I thought you might be hungry." He came to the edge of the cell where he was sitting, mask and all.

"Thanks," he replied, pulling off his mask to reveal his tired features. Clara passed the food through the bars and let him eagerly begin wolfing it down.

"Hungry much?" she asked. He looked up and nodded animatedly. "I can tell…you look as if you've never eaten a day in your life."

He mustered up a joking dirty look. "I like food, thank you very much. If I want to be in top physical condition, I have to love food. Some shit about it being good for a growing body," he replied, opening up the bag of chips and finishing it in fifteen seconds flat. He opened up the water bottle and chugged the entire thing.

"Sorry I couldn't bring you a feast, but I'm sure the Titans would've freaked to see half their refrigerator missing," she whispered, resting her temple against the cold metal of the cell's bar.

"It's ok," he responded in a soft voice, finishing the last of the apple and looking up. His shining eyes met hers, a small smile crossing his face. "This will do fine for now."

They sat in silence for a few moments, before Clara sighed softly. "And you know I can't let you out of here," she told him, looking at him with an apology in her eyes.

"I didn't expect you to. You have duties to your team. I understand that," he responded. "I'll just have to figure out how to break out by myself."

Clara smiled in appreciation. "So…tell me…what were you about to say last time before we were interrupted?" she asked inquisitively.

"It's a long story…" he began. "I doubt you'll want to hear it, but if you do, you might want to-oh-well, you're already sitting."

Clara chuckled, reaching through the bars to interlace their fingers. "It's ok. You can tell me. I've been through it all…I understand."

He took a deep breath. "My parents were the most famed superheroes in the city I lived in when I was three years old. Of course, that all changed when the HIVE killed them and my brother and sister to get to me. They wanted me among their ranks, for what purpose I don't know. But somehow the HIVE fooled millions of people into thinking all of my family died. They had to pretend I was dead to prevent questions. They began training me the day I hit four years, but I never went to the HAEYP academy. I went to a normal school, and after school I would be taught things necessary to become a villain. By the time I was fourteen they felt my training was complete, and they killed me."

Clara furrowed her brow and stared at him inquisitively. "What do you mean? How is that possible? They…killed you?"

He looked away and drew circles on his cell's floor with his finger. "They killed the person I was to give me a new identity. They had to kill me to avoid anyone I had known in my previous life from recognizing me somehow. So they killed me and gave me a new identity."

"That's horrible," Clara breathed, her hand coming up to rest on his cheek. He leaned into her touch, his eyes closing, as he smiled softly.

"It was horrible. I could barely deal with it all. I tried to rise against them, but the HIVE's become too powerful. I can't stop them. No one can," he replied softly. His hand came up to rest over hers and he looked up. "I love you so much," he whispered softly.

"Hm?" Clara asked, missing what he had said just barely.

"Oh, nothing," he replied hastily.

There was another short silence. "You look so familiar to me," Clara murmured softly. "I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen you before. In a dream, maybe."

"Maybe," he replied.

"Tell me, what's your name?" Clara asked. "I've known you for a week and I don't even know your real name. You can't expect me to go about blatantly calling you Baron."

"Well, I think Baron sounds very sexy," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows. "Either way, my name's Jake; Jake Jinks."

TT2