So I caved. There's some two knew cameos in this chapter! Try to guess 'em & research them if you're bored. Sorry if they seem OOC. Now on to the good stuff...

With Richard's new information, he and Rachel began to come up with a plan of action.

"If it helps," she told him one night in her room. Richard never risked the chance to invite her to his – he didn't want to put her in danger even though she seemed ten times quieter than him. "Every day, my nurse takes me on a brisk walk around the east wing around 5p.m."

He raised his eyebrows. "That's usually when Dr. Slade leaves office." He realised the connection.

Rachel nodded. "He always left to do things at about that time in the evening."

Richard decided that five would be the time to sneak in, but Rachel argued that it was too early. "It's something I'm only realising. Let me observe him more before you decide anything too rash."

Richard smirked. "Too rash? We haven't even don-"

Rachel quirked a brow but didn't say anything.

x

Next day

The following afternoon, Rachel took extra care to slow her walking speed as she and her nurse walked their usual route past the psychiatrist's hallway. She had briefly glanced Richard in the cafeteria speaking to the tall, beautiful redhead, his female nurse sitting mindlessly some ways away. Her stomach tightened uncomfortably, but like the mature young woman she was, she rolled her eyes at herself and kept her mind on the real task.

"What's the matter, Miss Rachel?" Her male nurse, an older gentleman with a tint of concern in his deep voice. She shook her head and shrugged one shoulder. True to her reputation, she never spoke a word to her advising staff other than Dr. Wilson. Her late-night meet ups with Richard were both a blessing and a secret. Even to her own appreciation, her voice was growing less and less hoarse the more she spoke with him. Or rather, 'whispered' with – but it was the same affect either way.

When she didn't reply vocally, he grunted and tried to look out the many dirty windows facing the right side of the hall, giving Rachel the time to poke glances around the psychiatrist's area for anything to help her and Richard sneak into his office.

'No one knows more about the patients than he does ...and yet we continue to waste for years under his care. There must be something to justify our suspicions,' she thought to herself. Under her soft hospital shoes, she placed more press and muscle into her feet, testing the floorboards near his office. They were surprisingly silent without the creak and groan around the patients' quarters. A part of her humoured that Dr. Wilson set up the boards that way to cover his own tracks but she quickly let that idea die.

Dr. Slade was finished for the day around 5:23p.m., and was closing his office door behind him without even an acknowledgement or glance to her presence. He locked the door loudly, the definite thuck of the bolt sounding like a boot hitting the wall in the hallway. With keen purple eyes, she watched as he placed his keys in his coat pocket as he walked hurriedly down the hall ahead of them and taking a quick turn into the open doorframe on the right. The male staff washroom.

Quickly picking up her pace, but not so much as to raise surprise, Rachel padded quickly to the doorframe with her nurse and just before passing it, dropped it half an interval.

'I must be crazy,' she tried to delude herself with a small grimace but the thought of Richard coming to her late tonight kept her determination going. As she craned her head back just the tiniest bit to the right, she caught sight of something that was enough to momentarily get her off her train of thought.

'Bing-!' And another patient slammed into her. When she looked up, her male nurse was already stepping out in front of her to prevent any altercation from forming between her and whoever was...

"Hey! Watch it, witch," a deep voice said though not as deep as her nurse. But it was male. From behind the nurse's starch white sleeve, she made out the image of a teenage age boy. He was taller than Richard by a couple inches but his bright, red hair and acid, green eyes did nothing to warm her the way the raven-haired seventeen-year old did.

When the young man caught her staring at him, he cracked a smirk a little and when she blinked, he had already crossed his arms, his expression gone from frustration to interest. "You know, I've heard things about you but didn't hear 'sexy' as one of the descriptions. Be thankful I'm saying this, you won't hear it anywhere else."

"Roy!" when he snapped his head back behind him, Rachel watched through wide eyes as his hand shot up in front of him and another over his shoulder like he was reaching for something on his back. He was ...was he ...an archer? When the man saw who had called him, he relaxed though the smirk did not leave his face.

"Damn, Mr. Strange, you really know how to scare me sometimes!"

A older gentlemen with a bald head, thick glasses and a short-cut beard running along his chin, came up to the red head and clapped his hand on the youth's shoulder. "Now, now Roy, be gentle with this one. Been here almost as long as you have."

Roy looked back at Rachel incredulously and rose on eyebrow. The smirk was still there! Rachel stepped out of view behind her nurse.

"Really? Then why haven't w-"

"She's not ...my concern, dear boy. A shame really," Dr. Strange sighed almost comically. "She's under ...Dr. Wilson's care."

Roy scoffed and made a motion with his shoulders as he ruffled his messy red hair. "Aw, that is a shame! We could've gotten along together so well..."

"Indeed," Dr. Strange grinned between him and Roy but Rachel didn't see – partly due to her nurse's blockade, but also because her mind was already drifting. She knew something of Dr. Strange from what she'd heard over the years – a bit more manic and personal with his patients than Dr. Wilson ever could be, but ten times the crazier in her now witnessing. Why had she never met him? Or this Roy guy? Arkham was terribly huge but that wasn't an excuse for having never seen his bright, red hair anywhere around the hospital. Perhaps he was a 'special' case like the few she'd heard that could get private homec...!

"Might've turned out a be a perfect experiment like y-! Or I'm sorry, I shouldn't use such language around anyone," Strange said airily and Rachel felt a chill run up her spine. "I mean, my dear," he was now addressing her directly and she didn't like it, "You would've made an excellent addition to my family of patients..."

"Yeah, look at me, babe. I may not ever get the chance to throw a knife again, but those therapy arrows sure ares-"

"That's enough, Roy! We do not talk about clinical treatments amongst the sick," Roy's doctor silenced him. "They'll get the wrong idea!"

"Yes sir," Roy said quickly. And as though someone had just shut off a radio, all the sound went out between the two and Rachel and her nurse watched warily as the two proceeded to walk carefully away. But not before Dr. Strange turned to Rachel one more time to talk to her, trying to flaunt his power as a psychiatrist over her and the rest of the staff, much like Dr. Wilson.

"Tell me, dear," he purred as Roy continued to walk briskly ahead of him. "Does Dr. Wilson treat your lot like a family?" He laughed mockingly before he turned and departed. "Do you even remember what it was like to have a family?"

When she turned back around to continue walking away, she realised Dr. Wilson was already walking far up ahead of her, absolutely not concerned on defending her or speaking up. He completely ignored the whole exchange as he exited the staff washroom and left for home that night, but that didn't stop the wheels in Rachel's brain from ticking or her heart beating wildly in her chest. She thought about the keys in his pocket.

'No, I may not, Dr. Strange. But I think I'm starting to get the chance to again...'

x

Following night

"...and there's a separate door into the men's staff washroom beyond the door frame. The doctor hangs his coat on one of the hooks outside it when he goes in! It's perfect, he leaves the keys just resting in there."

Richard furrowed his eyebrows when Rachel told him about the keys. She decided it was unnecessary to tell him about Roy and Dr. Strange. He probably never met them like she had and she assumed he didn't care about her enough yet to care about those kinds of things happening to her.

"Are you sure you want to keep doing what we're doing?" he asked. He was in her room for the third night in a row and he was hoping his luck wouldn't run out. "I don't want you to do anything you don't want to. I-I can do it if you want." But Rachel shook her head firmly.

"No it's easier for me because it's in my routine to walk by there anyways," she whispered back. "Besides, you can't leave your routine. In the cafeteria, meeting your vistors, the gardens...it'll look suspicious."

Richard agreed but told her to be careful. "How are you gonna get the keys anyway?"

"I've been skipping out on meals for the last two d-"

"Rachel, no," he hissed growing concerned. Her eyes widened in surprise. "You shouldn't have to starve yourself for our-"

"No hear me out," she whispered back as she raised her hands in front of her. Richard shut his mouth in a tight line. She breathed reassuredly. "I'm just going to pull a fake drop in the halls when my nurse and I walk by the washroom. Like I told you before, nobody is ever in that hallway when we walk at that time because it's close to dinner and the staff and patients are cleaning up." She mentally pointed out other than the time Roy and his creepy doctor walked down the halls the first time. "When I usher my nurse to get me a wheelchair, I quickly get up, grab the keys, unlock his door, and put them back in the pocket before any-"

"And what about Dr. Slade? What if he hears and comes out of the washroom early and finds you-"

Rachel shushed him by holding his face in her two small hands. "We've got to try something! Just trust me."

The next day, Rachel couldn't get Dr. Slade's keys because other staff did manage to stick around her in the hall. The same thing happened for the next couple of days but Dr. Slade's eerie washroom routine was the same – one time she swore to herself that he was talking to someone in there.

Richard came to her room whenever it seemed safe and he grew more wired with every passing night.

"Maybe I should do it," he whispered one night. He was clutching her bed sheet in one hand as he sat close to her and felt more confident doing so since she held his face. Rachel was showing to be a very emotional young woman, and it was comforting given his own state of panic and tiredness.

Rachel refused and shook her head in the dark, hers a messy black curtain like his own. "This is my job," she whispered back, "You can sneak into his room once I get it open for you because staff never check for locked doors after doctors leave. But this first task is mine ...I have to prove myself that I'm capable of getting out."

Richard instantly thought about her hero persona – the strong Rachel with telekinetic powers and black energy. He nodded as he understood, but he couldn't wait anymore, so with a small sigh he crawled up beside Rachel and sat hip-to-hip with her against the bedroom wall under the night's light from the window. "What ...is her name?"

And Rachel looked at him with wide, purple eyes before whispering back, "Raven."

"Raven..." he echoed. The name suited her.

A/N: Before I talk any more I just want to clarify that this story isn't one of those AU/actual-arcs where the characters realize "We were being tricked all along, we really are the Titans!" This is strictly an AU manifesting their comicbook-like powers to psychologically empower a bunch of teenagers in a different setting. Mkay? So don't expect any endings where they magically fall back into the real TeenTitan story-arc. And with that depressing note out of the way, Thanks For Reading!, next update will hopefully be put up tomorrow because I have two parties and a major family reunion following this Saturday and Sunday. And rather than type garbage from lack of sleep, I'll need to recuperate on the Monday! So dearests, get comfy! And alert me, should anything seem not right. ;)

Now for my mailbox:

TheDreamChaser:Thanks hun! I know, I love Raven with every fibre of my being & I sometimes dislike writing her off as a lost-weak character. And even though Robin will ultimately be the main hero of the storyline, just hope I can put it across that she can give her redeeming strengths to help him. But then again, that's what makes the gal so enticing - her weak-but-oops-gotcha!-sense of attitude. ;)

crazynerd: Thanks crazy beans! :) I think I just shot down your hopes with my AN above. Was that mean? I hope not! Lol, well who knows? :D I almost did a complete rewrite of this story to incorporate different ideas - that one might come back. But chances are slim. I'm dead tired from plotting and replotting ...perhaps a spin-off is in order. ;P

SladeRavenFan: Thankssss! Aah I totally get what you mean! Romance and crime-thrillers should never really mix because they get all ...ugh! Like, completely corrupted. I try not to put too much of it in this one - if anything I want it to come off as more friendship-healing-bridgetoeventual-romance-but-not-while-we're-reading sorta thing. Lol, but I love the RavenRobin pairing so I may accidentally drop it into that net - hopefully not, Slade is totally shaking everything up to prevent it.

And naw, I'm not a psychology-major, and I probably don't know enough psychology to save my life! Haha, but I DO have a lot of psyche-friends since my socio-legal program meets up part-way with them. If you want, I can gather info on any questions you may have - but be warned! We're talking from Canadian curriculum and I won't see any of them since all my classes ended for break this week! ;)

RxRFannnn: Thanks for the review! When RaeRob starts to get the talking in an AU, I go nuts too! :D Hopefully in a happier fic, I'll get them right to kissing! Lol, I joke - the ambience would/must be built first! ;) Much love.

~Also on another side note, you four are my most kind, genuine and thoughtful readers! So personal thanks so much for taking the time to write me a review of whatever was on your mind! If I can think of anything, I'll make a dedication fic for all of you - separately, altogether I'm not sure how & when. But I want to owe it to you - the old days of generous TT-readers are long gone.