6: Checking In

The following morning Robin drank his coffee and read his email. One from the mayor, probably budget related, fan club junk, the United young justice society news letter, one from babs, probably funny cat video related, one from Titans East, probably their annual report, one from Bruce. All it said was 'Call'.

Robin typed for a moment until a screen popped up displaying a bat logo. The screen read 'Calling Cave...' after a few seconds Bruce answered, still in uniform, but missing his cowl. He hadn't slept. "Thank you for calling Dick." He said calmly.

"Of course Bruce. What is it you needed to talk to me about?"

"Well you're not going to be happy about the subject of this little call, I can tell you that right now." He gathered some papers in front of him and began to organize absently.

"Oh?"

"The justice league requested I speak with you." Robin sighed and bowed his head in annoyance. He hated dealing with the justice league almost as much as his mentor did.

"Get on with it."

"You recently made contact with a girl named Olivia?"

"Yes. A local photographer." He sipped his coffee, wondering if she was some kind of criminal mastermind. "What about it?"

"She's on a watch list that the league set up to keep an eye on potential threats." This disturbed Robin. What exactly made someone a potential threat? "What can you tell me about her?"

"She seemed like an ordinary person to me. She photographs heroes in the line of duty for tabloids. She lives here in the city and she said she was from Nevada. She used some kind of pressure point trick on a criminal when we met, temporary paralysis type move."

"Hm." Bruce wrote something down on a pad in front of him. "Anything else?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

"Does she live with anyone?"

"She appeared to live alone."

"Well." He drummed his fingers. "The league requested I withhold why she's on the list, but I'm going to tell you anyway. She's highly trained in some of the more deadly branches of martial arts, which is where she's getting these pressure point tricks. Her mother is some sort of high security clearing Checkmate agent that infiltrated our ranks in her late teens under the name of 'Distress'. She only stuck with the hero ruse long enough to gather some info on higher ranking league affiliates and dropped off the map in '91. Did Olivia happen to mention where in Nevada?" Robin shook his head. Bruce wrote another note. "Well. The league is requesting you keep an eye on her movements and do some reconnaissance of your own. They suggested she may make a good addition to the titans if you believe she could be trusted. As far as they know she has no affiliations with any intelligence agencies, but I'd like you to confirm that."

Robin considered the mission carefully, absorbing the information Bruce was giving him.

Robin nodded. "Alright, I'll do what I can to get her on the team."

"Good. Remember what I told you. She's more dangerous than she looks. This information may be your strongest weapon in case of an emergency situation."

"Gosh. Right again Batman." He said with sarcasm.

"Take this seriously boy wonder."

"Anything else?"

"That will be all." -End Transmission-

Robin continued to go through his inbox until he found one from livi_wright and read through the email. It stated that she could probably kick his butt, which he was now mildly worried about, and that he really should come by to learn the pressure point trick she'd used. He opened the IM and replied something like 'I'm tougher than I look you know.'

'Robin! I'm glad to hear back. I got that photo developed.'

'Oh great. That's not fair, you caught me off guard.'

'It's actually pretty flattering, anyway you shouldn't have been off guard!'

'Valid point. So when are you going to teach me that temporary vegetable move?'

'That all depends, you think jump city will be safe without you tonight?'

'I think my team should manage fine if I slip away for a while.'

'I'm free at 7, how's that?'

'That's good for me, I'll come by around 7:30.'

'Sounds good. I gotta run if I want to meat my deadline on the villains month story. See you soon.'

-livi_wright is offline-

Robin went down to the gym to begin his morning warm-up.

Meanwhile, Raven was carrying a stack of papers to Cyborg's room, hoping that their meeting would go well. She stood outside his door and shifted the paper to one hand to knock. The door slid open and Cyborg greeted her with a smile. "Done already? That was fast."

"It's hard to put down a good story." Cyborg smiled at Raven and recieved the storie's translation.

"Thank you again Rae, this really means a lot."

"I'm happy to help, but you should know that Saracym isn't mentioned anywhere." He shook his head sadly.

"Rae..." He stopped, and that internal conflict returned.

"What is it Cyborg?" She was a little worried about her friend. He was obviously working through something very difficult for him, and she wanted him to open up about it without her having to pry. She was hurt in a way that he would keep something like that from her, but also knew he probably had his reasons.

"I don't know how to say this, but yeah, she is." She scanned her memory for that name anywhere in the pages and came up empty.

"I don't-" She was cut off when Cyborg pulled her into his room suddenly and closed the door. "I would have just walked, thank you." She said with a little annoyance.

"Rae, I really need to tell you something, because I'm going crazy trying to keep it to myself... but nobody can know. Nobody, understand? If any of the other titans found out, I don't know what they'd think of me..." He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I know what I think of myself... I trust you, but you have to swear. Just me and you. Nobody else ever knows." She was starting at him with slightly frightened eyes. What could he have done to warrant this amount of emotional turmoil?

She found her voice after a hesitant moment, looking into his eyes for answers. "What is it Cyborg?"

"Saracym is in here, but they don't mention her name... only her title..." his voice shook slightly, and he was having trouble maintaining eye contact. "Her title as the daughter of the tribe's old leader, Khahos..." He placed the stacks on a desk and ran his hand over the paper. "This story... this leader... this hero... he's..." He tried to calm himself, but his metallic hands shook. "He's my son."

Starfire always joined Robin for his morning workout. She'd been learning hand to hand combat under his mentorship and was a quite formidable challenge to him at this point. They were happily sparing while Starfire told him about her hallucinogenic food creation.

"Maybe it was the Zorka berries with marshmallows?"

"That is what I thought! A most strange reaction indeed." She went for a jumping kick but Robin blocked before it landed.

He chuckled and stopped their spar. "Try not to leave your center open." She looked confused. "Here." He opened a drawer and retrieved a sheet of red dot stickers, peeling one away. "Do it again." She nodded with determination and repeated her action. Robin dodged the attack easily. "See?" She looked down to see a red dot on her abdomen. "If that had been a fist it could have caught you completely off balance."

"I understand, I will be more cautious. Allow me to try again." She attacked him once more, and he blocked again but commended her for the improved form.

"Perfect. Keep up the good work Star. I think you're good enough to take me down if you really wanted to." She beamed at his compliment.

"It is due to a wonderful mentor, though I could never bring myself to damage my friends."

He smiled and collected a towel to run through his hair. It was down today, as it was most mornings. He pulled the towel around his kneck. "What?" He asked when he caught Starfire staring.

"I find your hair being unspiked is most flattering."

"You think I should just leave it today?" He asked honestly. He valued very few opinions on himself, but Starfire was one person that made him strangely self conscious. She nodded sweetly after a moment of consideration. "Then it's settled, no more spiky hair." He said. "Want to get breakfast?"

"Oh yes, I'm feeling most famished after our workout."

"I think I should cook." He teased as they went to the kitchen.