The sound of a sonic cannon charging told Jan the night would not be as boring as she thought. She smiled under the mask and turned quietly as a hole was blasted into the wall. Out of it came Cyborg and Starfire, Starfire with her bolts already lit up and ready to go.

"Don't move." Cyborg warned.

"I do not want to hurt you." Starfire said.

"How noble." Jan returned off-handedly, turning her head to look at the room around her once more.

The two approached Robin, and Cyborg made a sharp movement that told Jan to back up, which she did. More movement revealed Raven and Beastboy, who materialized from a black spot on the wall. Now Jan was somewhat exasperated.

Two Titans was manageable. Four was difficult, and Jan had a curfew. A groan told her that four just turned to five, and Robin pushed his way off the floor and stood, glaring, at Jan. The girl couldn't help but chuckle. What else was she to do?

"Finally." Beastboy sighed. "Now can we sleep at two in the morning, like we used to?"

"Maybe." Said Raven.

"If this is indeed a thief with many faces." Starfire said nervously.

"Thief with many faces?" Jan said statically. "Curious thesis."

"Yeah, we'll see." Robin glared, approaching the girl. He reached out a hand, brashly hurrying to unmask her.

The girl grabbed his wrist quickly, moving her face out of the way, and then shocked Robin, sending him back.

"Just because you have me at cannon point doesn't mean I'm just going to let you take off my mask." She scolded almost motherly, though one couldn't hear it through the device on her neck. "Perhaps if it was a little give and take, huh?"

"No deal." Robin spun his staff around, holding it like he had before.

"Oh well." The girl shrugged carelessly, and then reached to detach some items from the back of her suit. The motion was recognized by Robin, and he told his team to scatter just before Jan threw some small, explosive devices.

Starfire was the first to occupy the thief, throwing her starbolts to make Jan step quickly away. Then Cyborg fired off his cannon, but a high jump cleared her of the blast. The girl landed behind Cyborg, and a quick kick preoccupied him before Raven came out of the walls, her magic taking the form of a giant raven that reached for the thief. This was, of course, avoided, but brought Jan into direct conflict with Robin, who swung his staff ferociously, forcing Jan to choose between fighting Raven or Robin. She chose the more physical fighter and grabbed the boy's staff, using it to throw him into the dark form of his friend.

An ox charged at the thief, and she spun around, almost mocking him with her cape. Then the large beast turned around and charged again, but this time jumped in the air, morphing into a monkey which spun around Jan's figure, startling her. Quick action, though, literally shocked the animal, and Beastboy fell to the ground, thoroughly spent.

A shout from Starfire informed the thief of the girl's intent, and a quick spin allowed her to narrowly dodge a superhuman punch that cracked the floor, and a jump let her avoid an equally devastating kick. Another punch came from Cyborg, which the girl barely jumped over. But Raven ejected Robin right behind the thief, and a strong strike from his staff sent the girl reeling to the side of the room. Thrown off balance, she was unable to effectively defend herself from the barrage of blows that came her way, and she was finally pushed up against the wall. Defiantly, she started up the sparks on the suit, to ward away any further attacks.

"You're wasting your time." Robin said while Raven retreated to pick up the unsteady Beastboy.

Jan hated to admit it, but Robin was right. This suit, despite its impressive ability to distract, disengage, and paralyze her opponents, took up a lot of juice. Right now, she only had enough energy to make herself look like she was still dangerous. Fighting like this was pointless. Quickly, Jan looked around, trying to remember everything she could about this room. There was a flicker of light in the situation, and she clung to it, examining the walls around her.

The Titans wondered what the thief was doing as she turned away from them, balling up her fist and pulled it back. With a shout, the thief punched through the wall, her hand sticking to the circuitry inside. She did this with her other hand as well, and it quickly became apparent that the wires in the walls were reacting with the suit, and large strikes of electricity became a sudden hazard, pushing the Titans back. After a sudden burst of light, everything went out, even the light reserved for the centerpiece of the room. The only things that still glowed were Cyborg and the thief, since her suit now lit up in certain areas.

"You guys look tired." Crackled Jan's voice. "You should rest a bit."

The Titans scrambled to act as fast as they could, but a shockwave was released from the suit, and it blasted them all back, numbing their bodies and minds, so that the entire group was groaning on the floor, trying to regain basic functions.

"Thanks for the game, but I've a previous engagement. Perhaps we might meet again before I move on."

And with a bow, she exited.

Delivery was not interrupted by any Titans, which was a more than welcome break for Jan. She changed out of her suit, switching it for a decent set of clothes. She stopped at the meeting places for each of the deliveries, traveling to a mansion, then a warehouse, and lastly the foot of a library. Each item was handed over with inquiry and curious comments about how difficult it was to fetch each item. Jan answered with the appropriate casualty, effectively sending her message to the buyers. Nothing would slow her down. Nothing would stop her from performing her job just as she was asked to.

A few gracious conversations later, Jan made her way through the streets of Jump City quietly. Here, without a persona to act as, her steps were confident and didn't bother to become quiet. Jan wasn't a criminal, her personas were, and there was nothing to connect the two.

As such, the nervousness she felt beneath the surface didn't show as she saw the Titans searching Jump City. She realized she must have really rattled the cage, since the team was still going through the city for any hint of the thief. A dark green bird flew through the alleyways and over Jan, who paid it no mind. Not ten minutes after, Starfire flew by, illuminating her path with a glow from her hands. They didn't come close to her until Robin attacked someone in an alleyway, right next to Jan.

Jan stopped suddenly, turning her head sharply. It would be strange if she ignored him, right? Robin was holding up a fully grown man by the throat, glaring into his eyes.

"So you've heard of them?" Robin pressed a subject that had apparently been started from before.

"Everything about it went dark a while ago, though!" the man gasped.

Jan watched and looked to the man who Robin was almost strangling. She recognized him, since he often took odd jobs from Graham's business. If he squealed, Graham and Jan would be in trouble. In fact, the girl was about to intervene when Starfire flew down next to Robin.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed before putting an arm on the boy's arm, to calm him.

She gave a worried glance toward Jan, who let concern pass onto her face when Robin glanced over. Robin looked over and, spotting the citizen, seemed to come into his right mind. He dropped the man, who fell to his knees, gasping.

"I'm sorry." Robin mumbled to Starfire.

Jan figured lingering much longer would be unwise, so she jogged to the man and, pushing her hair out of her face, tried to help him to his feet. His grip was strong on her arm, and he didn't give any obvious forms of recognition as he looked at her gratefully. Then Jan turned to look at Robin, curious as to what was on the boy's mind.

Apparently, the two superheroes thought it best to leave the other two alone, and Jan quickly moved her fellow thief farther from the good-doers. Once they were around the corner, however, she signaled for him to pause, and she listened quietly. What could have upset Robin so much? She had heard that he could be obsessive, but Robin had never paid this much attention to anyone other than Slade.

"Robin, what is wrong?" Starfire inquired.

"Nothing." was the surly reply.

"I know you are lying." the girl sighed sadly.

"Slade was involved." Robin grumbled angrily. "I met him when we separated to look for the thief, and he commented on what a good show this night turned out to be."

"Robin, I do not see how-"

"Don't you get it? It's another one of Slade's games!" Here, there was a pause that made way for a dull thud. Robin had just punched the side of a building. "I asked him if he knew who the thief was, or if it was many thieves, but he just kept screwing with me. He knows who it is, but he won't say anything."

Here, Jan thought it best to leave. The longer she lingered, the worse things would look when she was found, obvious as day, listening in on the Titans about Slade. She suspected the others would gather soon, anyways, and she didn't feel like being around all five of them when she just pulled off three heists in about four hours. The girl and the man she had protected earlier took their own paths, although both led to the underground and the abandoned train station.

As usual, the underground was as dim and silent as the solemn men and women waiting to be hired for one job or another. She didn't even glance twice at them, only giving her brief attention to some who were bold enough to plead to her. Despite her job, Jan felt a few heart strings pulled, and she made a note to recommend a few of the more desperate people for the smaller jobs. But at the moment, she couldn't waste the time, or at least that was the front she put on. So she walked right by them and their desperate faces, and proceeded toward Graham's office with a slight limp in her left leg.

Graham greeted her with a smile and shining eyes. He could already tell that Jan had completed all three jobs, and his computer screen glowed with what Jan assumed were the results. Perhaps she had gotten impressive reviews from the customers.

"You've done it! Three jobs in one night! I mean, the customers were unhappy over your timing with one alarm or another, but you finished all three, and brilliantly on time!"

Jan took a swift bow, curving her arm beneath her torso for a moment. She arose with a small smile that she always allowed when being given praise for a job well done.

"But whatever are you here for? You must be tired. And I, well, I have payments to collect." He laughed, giddy. "It's times like this, I just want to hug you!"

"Please don't." Jan said, eyeing his frayed suit. "But you are right, I need to rest. Oh, and Graham, when you're taking small jobs, make sure to let some of those who've been waiting longer get a piece. We want workers, not corpses."

"Of course. Of course!"

Jan left the office, still walking tall. Her footsteps brought her across the abandoned tracks and let her hop onto the other walkway, where she headed straight for the rooms. There was an assassination attempt- a blade thrown at her, which she caught and returned with a more accurate aim. A few trusted individuals rose up to escort the wounded assassin out of the underground, and possibly kill him.

Only when Jan made it to her room did her true exhaustion show. She allowed her left leg to collapse when she made it to the bed, and leaned over awkwardly as she allowed herself to feel every ache and pain that remained, or had been aggravated. But she was not done yet, and changed swiftly out of her nice clothes and into her bed clothes. The girl double-checked her weapons, and what she had, and then looked at the pile of abandoned costumes, now joined by an extra duffle bag from the last three jobs. Sighing, she decided she would have to sort through them and keep, reuse, or redefine some. After she slept.

She was walking through a snowstorm. Just before her rose a giant wall of ice, the top of which she couldn't see. Jan approached it, and when she reached it, she put her gloved hands on the smooth surface.

The girl saw her reflection. Green contact lens, brown dye in her hair, a turtleneck under a long, wool coat. Then there was another figure in the reflection, one with a mask that was half black and half orange.

Jan spun sharply, and found herself no longer in a snowstorm, but instead at the edge of an important-looking room with white walls and an object in the center, quietly waiting. Somehow, she knew that she now had white hair and her normal blue-grey eyes. She approached the object, knowing she wanted it, though she wasn't sure if it was for herself or for someone else.

"Don't do it!" someone shouted.

Jan hesitated, and tilted her head to the side to view the Titans behind her. They had weapons primed, but for some reason looked reluctant to engage Jan. She wondered at this. Were they not enemies?

"No, take it." Another voice said calmly. The walls parted for Slade to enter, and Jan recognized his mask from the ice. "You've already chosen your life, haven't you?"

"What are you doing here?" Jan wondered aloud, but she got no answer.

Hand still extended, Jan waited. She weighed both sides. Her role was the thief, she knew. It was the role she had chosen for herself, but the Titans… why were they disagreeing with her, as if she were a friend? And then there was Slade's view; that it shouldn't matter if she took it.

But the item wasn't for her, was it?

Jan lowered her arm and turned to look at the Titans, who readjusted their aim for Slade.

"I'm not a middle man for either side. Settle your own quarrels." She sighed as she made her way away from both parties, down a hall that grew from the wall before her.

The two groups stared after her, with varied expressions that she could not see. And then floor suddenly fell out from under her, and Jan jerked sharply, searching for something she could use.

Jan sat up sharply in response to the horrible jerking feeling that always happened when you fell in dreams. A quiet, deep breath began to steady her heart. Then a quick glance made sure that no one had spotted her sudden ruffled moment.

What was that dream? It had come out of nowhere. In fact, Jan hadn't had clear dreams like that for years. Strange, that one should just pop up now, forcing her awake with sudden urgency. And the people and places were even more confusing. Her? Friends with the Titans? It was obscene, an absolutely ridiculous idea! Slade had no more business in her dreams than the Titans had. She had only met the man once, but there he was.

A sudden wave of longing hit Jan, and she swayed with it, her thoughts quite changed. There it was, that urge again. It gave her the picture of the sea at the harbor here in Jump City, accompanied by the smell and sound of the waves.

Jan couldn't quite explain why this happened. This was the longest she had stayed anywhere in about 6 years. For some reason, when she stayed somewhere for long periods of time, she had the urge to continue traveling, like there was something pulling her somewhere important. Except Jan doubted she was being pulled anywhere. Eventually, boredom had caused her to retrace where she had been pulled, and the feeling had dragged her almost everywhere on the United States.

It wasn't always the ocean that was drawn to her. Methods of travel that she was pulled to had involved forests, particular trails, rivers, creeks, oceans. You name the terrain, however impossible, and she eventually left town via that terrain at one point.

In fact, if it weren't for the interesting things that she found along the way, Jan would always be on the move. She would stop in one town or another to learn about an interesting person, fighting style, art, etc. Whatever caught Jan's fancy, she would stop for. But eventually, the feeling would grow too strong, and now it was about time that the wind took her away from this underground, which she and Graham had literally built together.

It was almost a sad idea, leaving this place. Jan found Graham on the streets less than a month ago, trying to broker pathetic deals to make a scratch of money. His suit had been worse then, fringed with mud and smelling of mold. He was nothing more than a street rat. Still, Jan recognized something in this street rat- a certain genius in his calculations, which he performed and repeated without hesitation. He knew how to prospect, and he knew how to run things, but he was missing a key part to his abilities.

For a business to grow, Jan concluded, a person need success to build upon. Graham only had starving people off the streets to work with. Not a single person of true proficiency was in his 'employ', and more than one failure had cost Graham everything he had gained. Curious as to whether Graham could do it, Jan offered her services. She proposed the idea of an underground network, borrowing an abandoned and spacious train station as headquarters. Graham would work his magic, drawing in the last of his customers to make a good impression, and Jan would back him up, doing what she did best- all things illegal.

At first, there were face-to-face meetings, which Jan refused to participate in until Graham got a new suit. Graham appealed to the customers, and they made their orders. She made sure to perform even the smallest job well, and when Graham could not extract any orders, Jan would impress upon the customer just how well she could steal. Then they got their first request without seeking it out, and from there the business grew.

It was all a question for Jan. Could she do it? Could she build up something to be successful and strong, as well as trusted? Jan did her job perfectly every time, and Graham was thrilled to be rolling in money once again (apparently he had been rich at some point before she met him). Now Jan was convinced she had done well, but that little trivia had outlasted itself several times over. Jump City had reached the end of its interest for her.

Now the only problem would be breaking it to Graham. There was already a note prepared in her bedroom, written a couple of weeks ago on the assumption that her interest would not last long. The girl had already decided that telling him about her plans would not benefit her, as he would only struggle uselessly. It was best to perform a last job, as a finale, and then leave without a trace.

The best way to get a job nowadays was to go to Graham, who kept records of all offers present. There was almost always an interesting one, and Jan certainly wanted to go out with a bang before disappearing entirely. She walked through the station, accustomed to the hungry stares that trailed after her, and then proceeded down the hallway that led to Graham's office.

His door opened without any sort of warning. Jan poked her head inside and noticed Graham looking at the screen of his laptop, a greasy business look on his face. He always got this look when trying to close a very beneficial deal.

"Graham." Jan said in low tones. Graham's eyes flashed dangerously at her, but then he smiled as he recognized her. Jan knew by now that if she were anyone else, she would have gotten chewed out for interrupting.

"Jan. You two do have good timing when it comes to each other."

"Two?" Jan asked curiously, stepping inside and closing the door behind her.

"Yes. Mr. Slade has decided he wants to hire you for a job." Graham motioned for her to walk into view of the laptop's camera. Jan did so, and saw it was Slade's face that occupied the screen.

"Slade." Jan said with a nod.

"You seem to have healed from our last encounter." Slade observed.

Graham saw the twitch of annoyance in Jan's face and the slight tenseness in her jaw. He was quick to move on.

"So what job do you have in mind?"

"I am aware that Jan never stays in the same city for more than a month. I've taken the liberty of choosing an interesting job."

"Only a month?" Graham said faintly, counting how long he had known the star thief.

Jan closed her eyes briefly, resisting the urge to sigh heavily. This would make things even more difficult. There was also now a question of how much Slade had looked into her background, and what he had found. She found herself liking him even less. When she opened her eyes, she briefly saw that Slade had said it in full knowledge of the trouble it would cause her.

"When, where, and what." Jan decided to ignore Graham's suddenly loss of enthusiasm. "I'll take care of the rest."

"Actually, your usual methods won't work this time. There are certain precautions set up against your antics. I daresay the Titans are tipped off about your singular presence."

"Then what, pray tell, will you be having me do instead?"

Now Jan didn't even have the liberty of setting up her own operation. This man was really starting to get on her nerves.

"Walk through the front door."

Shieb: Most of this was already written down on paper (boredom in school will do that to you). I finally got to typing a lot of it out. In fact, I wanted to post earlier than I did, but there was so much more to what I had planned that I wanted to make the chapter longer. Nine pages worth is long enough, right?