Chapter 3

Raven emerged groggy and ill-tempered from her room. Being forced to go save the city at this hour, "somebody had better be planning world domination" Raven thought to herself darkly... It appeared she was not the only one, as a green rooster ran out of the room opposite and past her squawking "cock-adoodle-do!" and meanwhile in the room next to her Robin and Starfire emerged looking dishevelled and very annoyed at the interruption. It would appear either way things were going, she wouldn't have gotten much sleep tonight anyway. Raven tried to be happy for Starfire but she just couldn't muster it for what must be the 12th time around now… Cyborg was nowhere to be seen, most likely whatever it was that was happening he got the alert sent right into his brain-computer … Thing… And was in the garage sorting some kind of transportation, Raven internally groaned "Great… A long distance trip"

They all ran to the computer in the main foyer of Titan Tower, they were already on amber alert thanks to Robins precious mentor, The Batman. Who was dealing with some issue in some big criminal mental asylum up in Gotham city, and the first thought that ran through Ravens head was that the Batman had ran into something he couldn't manage and had called in reinforcements which did worry Raven more than a little bit… Yeah he hadn't exactly performed miracles for Robins sparkling personality but in terms of fighting crime as a mortal with no superhuman powers Robin was good and if the guy who had trained him couldn't handle something she wasn't too sure there was a lot they could do to help. It was quiet a widely held belief that out of the network of heroes out there batman was one of the best… If he had been beaten… Raven didn't even want to think about the freaks that could then become their problem. … The Batman came to visit them once before when he needed Robin to stand in for him for the night when he went after some "Azreal" and while he was their the bat was actually really nice if a little bit broody but she could relate. Whatever happened to Robin she will never know.

She was jolted back out of her head by the situation, somebody had tripped the alarm on the front door, and somebody had got into Titan tower! Everybody else was already half way to the elevator and she ran to catch up…

This had happened once or twice before, a bad guy got too big for their boots and tried to hit them where they lived, it wasn't like they hid conspicuously… But something told Raven this wasn't an invasion, it was too quiet… and as the five of them exited the lift they saw straight away that there was no invasion, it was a man lying on the hard stone floor of the entrance hall shaking with hypothermia, soaked to the bone, and breathing frantically, the kind of desperate rasping that you got right before you passed on, Cyborg was already at his side and trying to analyse what the man needed… when the alert was triggered cyborg must have come straight down here instead of going to the computer in the main foyer first…Ravens stomach instantly dropped out onto the floor as she saw the bleeding stump of the figures arm. This man was going to die, right there in front of them, again Raven had to be snapped out of her reverie by Robin, running over to Cyborg and the man, followed shortly by Starfire and Beastboy. Raven walked over as Cyborg shook his head as he opened his mouth to speak. " He's got a half hour to live at most; we should take him up to the infirmary and make him comfortable"

"Dude isn't there anything we can do? Surely we can do something!" protested Beastboy.

"Sorry Beastboy but this guy, whoever he is… whatever's happened to him he is beyond the point of medicine helping him, he must have been in that ocean for hours and it looks like something tried to eat him! There's nothing I can do for him except make him comfortable" replied Cyborg with a grim shake of his head.

He was right after all, this man looked about as close to death as you could get without seeing a bright light, the rasping had stopped and his breaths were shallow gasps, his clothes were rags and his long dark hair hung over his scarred face, pale as a skull; Which was a shame because before whatever happened to him he may have been rather nice to look at. Raven couldn't help but feel sorry for this man, being tossed around by the sea all night and to have survived and find safety only to die on the floor. Raven felt uncharacteristically sorry for this man, whoever he was. But even she was surprised by the words coming out of her mouth, interrupting Robin and Cyborg who were arguing over what to do with the would be corpse

"I'm just saying it would be a lot easier if…!" started Cyborg

"Enough!" shouted Raven, startling her team mates, she never shouted. "I might be able to help him…"

"What with your magic?" asked Beastboy tilting his head

"No with my dazzling charm and good looks…" said Raven scowling. "Yes with my magic you idiot!"

"That's great Raven, sooooo what are you waiting for, do it already" exclaimed Robin.

Raven tried to calm her temper at this, of course she hadn't thought to do it straight away how silly of her, after all robin was the only one here with a brain. "Well… there's slight catch, just like Cyborg said, he's beyond recovering from this, and he can't be saved whether it be with magic or medicine, but I might be able to bring him back once he's dead…"

And at this the other titans looked up from the corpse to be on their floor, pale flesh, skin and bone lying there, eyes staring up without really seeing, body shaking violently from the cold; blood leaking in pulses from his wound, mouth open, and the only sound was the man's fading breath getting shallower and shallower, eventually coming to a shuddering rattle, and stopped.

It was Beastboy who broke the silence with a very good question.

"Ummmm Starfire? Why are you wearing Robin's belt?"