A/N: Mad, but still updating.

Disclaimer: I WISH the Teen Titans were mine.

TT2

Wednesday September 23, 2019

Richard was pissed. Richard was fuming. Richard was nowhere near the level of sanity that most times he actually managed to maintain. No wonder the town hired the Teen Titans. The town's police force is totally incompetent.

"I told you, he was not the man who I fought!" he screamed for what seemed the thousandth time at the police officer, who now cowered under his intense and hateful glare. "He was taller, with darker hair, darker eyes, and lighter skin! AND HE WAS NOT MISSING AN ARM!"

"Y-Y-Yes, t-terribly sorry, s-s-sir," he stammered, before scampering from the room.

Richard slunk back into a seat, rubbing his temples. "No wonder the town hired us," he murmured. Now, that wasn't redundant.

"We were the only competent people that were equipped to fight crime," came a sardonic voice from the open doorway. Raven, clad in a black pleated skirt and a nice gray button-down, walked into the room, smirking. "They really all do seem mentally challenged, don't they?"

"You're telling me..." he trailed off, sighing. "Stupid cops."

A large man stomped into the room and stared down at Richard in his seat. "You can go, now. Call us if you get a lead on the two cases you've been monitoring." Yea, right.

"Whatever," he mumbled under his breath, before bolting up and starting on a brisk walk out of the room. "C'mon, Raven."

They walked out into the parking lot and Richard slowed his place. His IQ was rising just getting out of there. "You think they'd hire better help," Raven tutted to herself, unlocking her car and sliding in the driver's side door. Richard slid into the passenger seat. "Do you want to go get some lunch before I drop you off at work?" He had taken a break to come down and identify criminals, which had really accumulated nought but a pounding migraine.

"Yea, sounds great," he replied, detached, still thinking of Kori now that his brain activity had wound down. "Say Martucci's Café on Lakeside?"

"Yea, that's good," she replied, also slightly detached. A lot had been going on and she hadn't been thinking about Gar much lately (ok, so that was a lie, he was ALWAYS on her mind, no matter what). Raven went into a tangent, but still managed to pay attention to the road in front of her.

"Thinking about Gar?" Richard asked when he snapped from his own tangent. She nodded sadly, never bothering to turn her head to merely glance at him. "It'll be ok, Raven. If I had to pick one quality about you that I endear the most, it would be your ability to be optimistic. Just be optimistic, and everything will be alright."

"I could say the same for you," she snorted.

"I'm trying, ya know. I mean, at least you know where your fiancee is. I couldn't even begin to fathom where Kori might be right now," he retorted, slinking in his seat and crossing his arms, not defiantly, but rather casually. "I mean, unless you have another vision we might never find her."

Raven nodded to herself. "Why would someone take Kori Anders, the girl engaged to Richard Grayson, and not even ask for a ransom. They didn't even leave any clues! Who does that?" She asked him, slapping her hands on the steering wheel. "This is the worst case we've ever taken on, but I think-"

But Richard's phone rang incessantly. He pulled it from his pocket and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked.

"Daddy?" Rang the voice of his pride and joy on the other line. "Look, Daddy, we need you to come down to the Tower. We think we might have some information on Mom's whereabouts."

He immediately ordered Raven to take the next right and they were on their way.

Richard arrived at the tower running through the entryway, up eight flights of stars, Raven flying at his heels. He burst into the medical bay, where four teenagers were sitting looking worried, and two identical twins were lying in beds, hooked up to numerous machines. "What happened?" he demanded, striding into the room, Raven at his heels.

"We don't know," Kyle responded, taking his position as leader and standing to meet Richard's gaze. "She was sitting in the living room watching TV and I was making lunch and all of a sudden she just went into some sort of episode. Apparently, Clara went into one at the same time. I had no idea what to do so when they calmed down I took them here to try and use the brain wave converter. So far, the picture's been blurry and the sound's been garbled, but it's getting clearer."

Richard nodded understandingly. "Wait..." Raven started. "What happened, specifically?"

Kimi stood from her armchair in the corner of the room. "They just went silent, and then they started shaking, and convulsing, and screaming..." she trailed off. "We had no idea what was going on."

"They're having visions. Witches of their age and caliber often have visions that start with an episode-like reaction because they're not used to the pain of going into a vision. The vision should become clearer on the screen," Raven explained.

Richard and Raven both turned to the screen. "Why did you say it might have some information pertaining to Kori's whereabouts?" Richard asked his daughter.

"Because before we heard the name Kori being used before it scrambled again," Kimi replied, her hands clasped behind her back. "We thought that when it became clear you'd probably want to see it."

The screen was unclear and garbled, but it was noticeably getting clearer. Everyone grabbed a chair and pulled it in front of the screen, save for Danny, who was sitting next to Sara's bed. He was worried for her. I guess you could say they became close friends since they moved in.

All of a sudden, the screen cleared and it turned dark, with a small sliver of light shining against a woman's pallid face. It was Kori. "Mom!" Kimi gasped, and turned to look at her father, who was speechless. She appeared to be unconscious. They watched as a scene unfolded before them.

The room lit up with a fair amount of light to see her unconscious, dangling from chains in the walls, her head tipped forward. She was covered with dirt and grime, covered in cuts and bruises, and smeared with her own green blood. "Kori!" Richard squeaked, covering his mouth in horror. "Who did that to her!" His anger flared and he stood from his seat, teeth gritting. "When I find out who took her..." he made a snapping noise and twisted a neck of air in his hands.

"Sh!" Raven ordered, listening intently.

"What to do now, master?" came a sickening hiss of a man.

"We wait. It'll be in 24 on Earth. It won't be hard to play it off as confusion. From then on, I will have no use for her. The elixir will take effect, she will go into the coma, see her fiancee kissing me, and choose to die. I will marry her fiancee, and we will live happily ever after. That's what she gets for defying me," a sly, womanly voice announced with a bitter laugh.

"Who is that?" Richard asked, clueless, trying to piece together everything he had just heard to try and figure out who she was. "And why is she so sure that Kori will see me kissing her? What the hell is she talking about?"

Raven's face dawned with comprehension and she gasped. "I've heard that voice before. That woman. I know who she is...I know who she is..."

A black mass crowded the screen and came to rest on her knees in front of Kori. Long, black nails came up and caressed her face, and she instantly snapped awake. Kori's eyes adjusted and she focused on the person in front of her. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice quivering. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because I don't love you, Starfire,"this voice sounded like Richard's. A lot like Richard's. "I have never loved you. It's all been one big lie. And I'm not sorry." A single thick and manly fingee trailed down Kori's cheek and Kori winced visibly. "Don't worry, the pain will be over soon."

Kori gasped and fell limp. The figure turned towards the screen and smirked. And what everyone saw shocked them, since the smirking face was none other than Richard Grayson.

"Yes, the pain will be over soon," the Richard-impostor on the screen continued. "Or I'm not-"

But it was then that Sara and Clara chose to snap to alertness, both waking with vigor, as they shot up and screamed. "Calm down!" Kyle called, venturing over in between their beds. "It's ok. You guys are in the tower right now. No need for alarm."

"We know who kidnapped Kori!" Sara and Clara both announced, despite Kyle's attempts to shut them up.

"What?" Kimi asked. "How? Weren't we seeing what you were seeing?"

"No, because when the screen was garbled that was a bad connection on our part, not on their part," Raven announced. "They saw everything we didn't."

"Enough!" Richard interjected. "Who was it? I want to know what sick bastard has been telling my Kori that I don't love her!" He stared eagerly at them, his eyes pleading.

The twins looked at each other, and both bit their lips. "We don't know. But we saw her face. She looked almost exactly like Kimi, except about Kori's age," Sara explained.

"But, that's impossible," Kimi reasoned. "The only reason I look like I do is because I'm a half-child. Half-children are the crossbred children of Tamaranians and Humans. Almost all half-children have black hair and purple or blue eyes, and a face structure near to what I have. I'm the perfect example of the stereotypical half-child. There aren't any full-humans that look like half-children. It's impossible."

"But...But..." Richard trailed off, sputtering. "There has to be an answer! There has to be some sort of possibility somewhere. Kori can't just be kidnapped by some psycho that looks like my daughter. I mean..." Some psycho that looks like my daughter. "BLACKFIRE! IT WAS BLACKFIRE!" He suddenly yelled. "It was her! I was positive that Kimi looked like Blackfire the first time I ever saw her! And that explains everything else. The whole 'that's what you get for defying me', the man calling her master, everything. It has to be Blackfire!"

"That does make sense," Raven reasoned. "And she's probably on Tamaran, too! That's why we couldn't connect with her! My powers can't go to other planets or dimensions. It all fits now."

"Uh..who's Blackfire?" Kimi asked.

"Your mother's sister. She's been a jealous bitch ever since Kori was born. But I never knew that she was a half-child. Apparently she was the cross-bred child. That's probably why she was so jealous of Kori all the time," Richard mused.

"But, even if we could get to Tamaran, we don't know where this 'Blackfire' character is!" Danny started.

"Then we'll raid the whole planet if we have to," Richard stated through gritted teeth, a bloodthirsty look in his eye.

"It'll take me two days to get the engine repaired and ready for take-off," Taku told him. "I'll need a few spare parts but it should be in working order still. Will that be ok?"

"I'll see if I can get Cyborg to help you so we can commence take-off faster than that. I'll be busy for the next two days in work, so I can't help but I wish I could. But on Friday, when the ship is ready, I'll be coming over bright and early so we can make-up a plan of action. This will be your first big mission since joining the Titans," Richard informed them.

Kimi sighed and fell back into her armchair. "These next two days are going to be tiring, aren't they?"

Everyone turned to her and nodded.

"Great."

TT2