56. Full Circle part 3

I stabbed one last time with Myrkblade, and a burning slit opened up to the outside world.

I held an arm ahead of my shaded black eyes and crawled out of the rubble.

I took a deep breath once on the surface. I looked behind me. Half of the meat packing warehouse had collapsed from the blast wave of the carbonite.

And my friends…

I turned around and stared out at what was once the scrapyard. Underneath a curtain of dust, a throng of police squad cars, firetrucks, and other emergency vehicles had gathered. Their flashing lights streamed outward into the hazy air of destruction all around us.

I sheathed Myrkblade, winced, and gradually limped my way towards the huge crater in the earth. The closer I came, the desolation increased greater and greater before my weary eyes.

And there was no sign of the other Titans anywhere…

I took a pained breath as I passed through the bent mesh that was once the metal fence surrounding the scrapyard. I stood at the edge of the crater and looked down the slopes. The gigantic hole in the earth was filled with a superheated carpet of metal dust and ash. The carbonite explosion had practically melted the junk in the scrapyard into a pool of chaos at the bottom of the pit.

Could my friends have been a thin layer of ash underneath all that?

I peered across the crater.

I could see the bodies of police officers and firefighters scurrying about on the other side, establishing a base of operations. Among them was a familiar figure.

I inhaled, swiveled about, and walked the circumference of the crater.

As I approached the squad cars and emergency crew, the form of Commissioner Decker came clearly into view. He was shouting out orders in only the way Decker could.

"We've still got a fire going, dammit!! Get that shit of yours and go take care of that shit!!"

I cleared my throat.

The Commissioner and a few cops looked over at me. A good number of them gasped.

"Dear lord!"

"There's one of them!"

"Where'd he come from?!"

"Okay, people, get moving!!" Decker shouted at them. He marched up to me. "You look like you spent the last few hours climbing through crap. What happened?!"

I took a deep breath. I gestured and pointed all around.

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh……yeah. That's right, you're the one with the broken throat, aren't you?"

I gestured madly.

"Can't understand you, kid. Think maybe you can write it down?"

I looked to my left. The lieutenant was writing information on a pad of paper.

YANK!

I grabbed it from him.

"Hey!! What's the big idea—"

Decker held him back with a raised hand.

I scribbled like mad on the paper and held it—shaking—up for Decker to see.

'Where are the Titans?'

Decker squinted his eyes. He looked at me. "You mean….you don't know?"

I stared at him, mouth agape.

Decker pointed towards the southern horizon. "They all headed back to that Tower of yours soon after we arrived on the scene! We thought you were with them! All in the feather, right?!"

I insanely scribbled on the paper and held it up again. 'They are all right?'

"In terms of normal Titans, yeah…more or less," Decker nodded. "They were walking, if that's what you wanted to know."

I sighed with relief and tossed the notepad in the lieutenant's face. My shoulders sagged and my arms dangled at my side. There was a big, weak grin on my face.

"Why did they leave you behind??" Decker asked. "They didn't even ask about you when we came."

I bit my lip.

I looked towards the southern horizon. The late afternoon sun and its yellow-orange glow casting over the urban gray of the City.

I turned, pointed towards the horizon, then saluted the Commissioner before walking off.

"Godspeed and all that jazz," Decker grunted and waved. "And tell the Titans I would greatly appreciate them cutting back on these damnable craters!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

In the Main Room of the Tower…

Beast Boy huddled on the end of a couch. His jumpsuit was stained with dirt, rust, and ashes.

Beside him sat Starfire, a bandage on her cheek and her hair stringy with flakes of dirt and dust.

Raven stood behind the couch. Her robe had been completely shredded, so she had tossed it to the floor and merely stood in her tights. Her arms were folded.

Cyborg stood on the far side, away from the sofa where Beast Boy and Starfire were. His titanium exoskeleton had been scuffed and scraped in several places. His fists were clenched.

Robin stood before them all, his back to the computer monitor and the tall, stretching windows behind him. His outfit had been cut and torn in several places. Amazingly, his cape stayed in tact.

"What are you getting at, Robin?" Raven asked as the five were in the middle of a conversation.

"What I'm saying is this…," Robin said firmly, "…we scan the City. We find Noir. We question him."

"How do we know he's still in the City for us to find?!" Beast Boy asked. He frowned. "He totally ditched us in that rusted powder keg!! If I so much as see him now, so help me all that is holy---"

Starfire placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let us not be so quick to fisticuffs."

"Why not, Star?!?!" Beast Boy cackled. "It was a setup! A complete setup! I hate to hear myself saying this…but we should have never trusted Noir with the whole 'carbonite-location' thingy!"

"Are to assume he did not try to save us when we were in peril?" Starfire asked. She looked at everyone with her round green eyes. "When I came upon him, he was not trying to exit the scene. I believe he was staying behind to save us!"

"If we're not mistaken, Star….," Raven began, "…the moment you saw him, the neck of the crane knocked you into Beast Boy. Is that correct?"

"Well…"

"And did Noir do anything to save you then?"

The Tamaranian was silent. She looked down at the floor.

"How'd those things come alive?" Cyborg suddenly remarked. "The magnet. The crane. The automobiles. The conveyor belt. I've should have seen it coming….but….I mean, come on!!"

"It was a coordinated assault," Robin said, fisting his palm. "Anyone—Slade included—could have planned such an intricate way to destabilize all of us, providing he had an inside ear for the exchange of information as means of preparation."

"It worked so perfectly," Raven said. Her blue eyes narrowed. "And yet…Noir must have overlooked a few things. For instance, if Noir was working for Slade and he really wanted to finish us off, he would have sabotaged the T-Car as well."

"Yeah," Cyborg nodded. "It only took a few seconds for me to remotely control the Baby to come around and cart us off before the carbonite blew. Noir would have known that."

"Then he is……innocent?" Starfire asked.

Robin shook his head. "Not innocent. Just foolish."

"But what good could possibly come for Slade in merely teasing us with the prospect of extermination?" the Tamaranian asked.

"He's Slade," Beast Boy shrugged. "He's one of them sado-mastodons!"

"'Masochists'," Raven corrected.

The changeling glared at her. "How would you know?"

"……."

"Robin, let's think about this for a moment…," Cyborg spoke. "Okay…let's say there's Noir. And there's Slade. Slade hires Noir. Slade tells Noir to join the Titans and finish them off. How would this go about happening? For that matter, how did it go about happening?"

Robin folded his arms. "Simple. If you remember…it was one of Slade's schemes that Noir first helped us thwart."

Everyone froze.

"Ummmm," Beast Boy blinked. "It was?"

Starfire gasped. "The robot duplicate of Cinderblock!"

"The android was smashing its way through the City," Robin said. "In just a matter of time, it would wreak havoc on a schoolyard full of elementary school students. Noir dove in out of nowhere and—"

"…ripped the damn robot to shreds…," Cyborg muttered, staring off into space.

"And, as it turned out, it wasn't Cinderblock at all," Robin said. "It was merely a robot replacement."

"If Slade hired Noir to come in and bash up one of his henchmen, it wouldn't have been someone as special to Slade as Cinderblock," Beast Boy nodded. "So he used a robot instead!! Sheesh…that's crazy…"

"This isn't the first time that a…..a t-traitor has joined us simultaneous to a plan of Slade's," Robin said.

"Terra….," Raven droned.

Everyone shuddered.

"Both times she joined us…," Raven spoke, "…Slade was up to something. The first time, it was an attack on a diamond mine."

"The second time he was trying to bury our home," Starfire said, her hands clasped together.

"When Slade was attacking us and we needed help the most…Terra was there," Robin said. "When we needed help the most to stop the Cinderblock doppelganger—"

"Noir was there," Cyborg muttered. "And right now we've been needing him again."

"For the second time in a row…," Robin spoke, frowning, "…everything the five of us tried to do came under the hand of chaos. First metal rafters were falling on us and holes were popping up in the ground to trap our feet. And now at the scrapyard, all the junk and equipment came to life to shred us apart. And when that didn't work, we were nearly blown to smithereens."

"But how'd it all happen??" Beast Boy exclaimed, brushing off more and more dust and soot from his figure. "Does—like—Noir have some wyrd superpower he's not shared with us yet?"

"I don't think it's that complicated," Robin said. "But rather, there's been a two-sided work going on. Noir leads us into these battlefields, and Slade somehow provides a supernatural cover fire."

"The Experiment….," Raven slurred. A beat. "Do you think he already has access to whatever mysterious tools the Balance of Morals implies?"

"There may be no way to explain it," Robin said. "But we can surely spot it. We've been twice burned…not just here with Noir, today after the scrapyard. But also with Terra. We're smarter than Slade thinks, and we're not going to take much more of this."

"Then….Noir is—" Starfire mumbled.

Just then, the elevator doors opened.

Everyone turned to look. They all stood up as their breath left them.

I limped into the Main Room….paused….and looked at them through my shades.

"…………………….."

They all stared at me.

They were frowning.

My black eyes rounded.

I exhaled.

"………………….."

My vision scanned their faces. Raven's glare. Cyborg's pain. Starfire's confusion. Beast Boy's bitterness. And Robin's frown.

I gulped.

Finally….

"You're here rather late….," Raven droned.

"What's wrong?" Cyborg grunted. "Couldn't sit down and make yourself comfortable earlier when you left us to roast?"

My jaw dropped.

They thought I had abandoned them!!

They were too busy being knocked unconscious to see me trying to save them……

Beast Boy folded his arms and glared at me through the corners of his eyes. "Nice job scuffing yourself up. Had a sudden change of heart and wanted to get beat like the rest of us??"

I slowly shook my head. I blinked. I stared over at Robin…...disbelieving.

Robin slowly paced over towards me.

My heart beat.

The Titan came closer, his white eyemask furrowed.

He stood a mere few feet away from me. Staring daggers.

I gulped.

"You look so…..so….surprised….," he said. A beat. He whispered: "That makes me sick!"

My throat hurt. My heart shuddered.

"Cat got your tongue?"

I bit my lip. I looked over at Cyborg.

The android was glaring. Nevertheless, he nodded.

I looked at Robin and—with shaking hands—gestured.

"'I came here as soon as I could'," Cyborg read aloud. He chuckled with indignity as he finished translating my words: "'I was buried under a building across the street when the blast went off.'"

"Ah, I see," Robin nodded and folded his arms. "What were you doing there to begin with??"

I was about to gesture—but I froze. I looked at Cyborg….Raven….Beast Boy….Starfire.

I should have listened to the Messenger's words. But I didn't. I went off chasing the Third Apprentice, whoever it was. I should have been there to save my friends. As far as I was concerned—due to my carelessness—I had truly betrayed them.

I had……betrayed the Titans……

I lowered my head and clenched my eyes shut.

Robin took a deep breath. "I suppose there's no time like the present to tell you this, Noir," the Boy Wonder said. "We know about the transmissions."

Raven's lips parted as she looked Robin's way.

Beast Boy and Starfire swallowed.

I looked up into the Boy Wonder's eyemask.

I knew they had seen the transmissions. But I also knew that they weren't truly sent to Slade. Dagger had hacked into the Tower. He had changed the truth of the data and turned it against me. The Titans had seen the transmission data nearly a week ago, and it was their springboard—besides Raven's premonitions—to identify me as a traitor.

Indeed, I knew about it. But they didn't know that I was knowledgeable. Everything up to this point had been a double-sided charade. We kept our secrets from each other so that we could ride the wave of Slade's scheme and try and find out what the truth was.

Well, the Titans were about to get their truth. Or at least, what they thought their truth was. If I had told them all about the Messenger and the conspiracy earlier, maybe I could have prevented this elevation. But it was too late. Six straight days of unsuccessful battles with Slade and two intense conflicts in which the Third Apprentice had framed me as a battlefield turncoat, there was no way I could convince the Titans of anything.

And as it was so……this was the threshold. This was the point of no return. While I watched the Boy Wonder's lips moved…as I heard the words dripping out of his mouth, I felt my soul well up in despair. I was no longer a Titan. I was on my own again. I was…

Full circle…

"You've been supplying information to Slade," Robin said. "And trying to cover your tracks. It would have been quite ingenious of you, hadn't Terra done the exact same thing months before to bring about the ruination of both the Titans and the City."

I exhaled deeply.

"What?" Robin cocked his head to the side and said bitterly: "Thought you could get the drop on us, Noir? We've figured it all out. We've been wounded before…by a traitor much colder, badder, and—I must add—smarter than you."

I couldn't help it. I frowned. These were true lies coming out of Robin's mouth. He didn't know it. But I did. They burned in my brain.

"I'm sorry, does this hurt your feelings? Good!"

CHIIING!!!

The Titans jumped and raised their fists in a fighting position.

I had unsheathed Myrkblade.

Glaring, I spun it around, held it out by the width of the blade, and tossed it on the ground in front of Robin's feet.

CLANK!!!

I took a breath and held my hands up…harmless.

Robin's eyemask narrowed.

Starfire looked between us.

I gestured.

Cyborg read: '"I have known of your suspicion lately. But please believe me that I am not the traitor you think I am. I will do anything, surrender anything, agree with anything that I must to prove my innocence."

Robin clenched his fists. "I already gave you your second chance, Noir. Whether or not you suspected anything, you lost our trust in you. We know better about you and Slade now. We fell for it…but not any further."

I took a deep breath. A heat of anger rose in my body. I couldn't help it. I fell back. Just like how I ran after the Third Apprentice and left my partners behind, I gave in. I gestured.

Cyborg sweatdropped and read: "Uhhh…..he says 'If you knew so better, you wouldn't have fallen for anything to begin with'."

Raven gritted her teeth.

Beast Boy bit his lip.

Robin glared at me. He slowly turned around and faced the distant windows of the Main Room and--

SWOOOOSH---SMACK!!!!!

He immediately spun around and plowed his fist into my cheek.

"!!!!"

I fell back.

GRIP!!!

He had his gloved hands clenched on my shoulders and shoved me up against a wall.

WHAM!!!!

"You want to know hurt, huh Noir?!?!" Robin shouted. "YOU DO NOT KNOW HURT!!! I LET MY TEAM GET TORN APART BY ASSHOLES LIKE YOU BEFORE!! NOT AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME?!?! NOT AGAIN!!"

I gritted my teeth. It made no difference. I was still angry.

It helped me none…

I charged Murk up my limbs and pulsed it out of my chest.

FLASH!!!

Robin was thrown back ten feet. He landed on his rear with a grunt.

"Robin!" Starfire rushed over and knelt by his side.

He frowned and rubbed his head, looking up at me.

I panted…my arms flexing.

Suddenly, my limbs were encased in black energy. I was lifted up and pinned hard back into the wall like a levitating crucifix.

I looked across the Main Room.

Cyborg and Beast Boy spun around as they also saw Raven standing up, an wrist outstretched, her eyes glowing bright gray.

She said: "If you so much as hurt one of my friends I will RIP YOU APART WHERE YOU STAND!!!" Her eyes flashed a momentary red as she said that.

My jaw dropped.

"Rae!!" Beast Boy hissed desperately. "Don't!"

Raven's eyes returned to gray. She panted…glaring madly at me.

Suddenly, Starfire jumped up besides Robin and shrieked: "Please!! Raven! Robin! Noir! Stop it this instant! Must we forget, we are all friends?!?!"

Silence.

Cyborg rubbed the human half of his skull and looked to the floor.

Beast Boy gulped.

Starfire panted. Her brow furrowed and she clenched her fists. "Are we not?!?!"

No response.

Robin stared out the windows.

Raven dropped me from long distance, folded her arms, and looked away.

I rubbed my arms and looked at Starfire.

She looked at me, panting. Slowly, her face melted. It was the saddest thing in the world. A glowing, emerald tear streamed down her face. "I-I thought………..…..we all thought…….that you were our friend."

I froze from the inside out.

My eyes darted down at Myrkblade.

Robin saw it. His muscles tensed.

But before any desperate move could be made….the huge computer monitor flickered to life and a creepy masked face with a creepy voice slithered into the air of the Main Room. "I hope I am not interrupting a special bonding moment…."

Robin gritted his teeth. "Slade…"

I gasped.

"Robin. You and your teammates are alive. I find that most unpleasant."

"Nobody finishes all the Titans in one day," Robin marched towards the monitor and shook his fists. "You should know that!"

"Oh…but I do," Slade's emblazoned eye narrowed as his chilling helmet tipped forward. "The one consolation I have for my inability to snuff out the lights of all five of you is the futility of you and your teammates in combining to snuff out my own." Slade's hand gestured. "Luckily, I had slipped a wildcard into the deck."

Robin's brow furrowed. "What do you mean??"

"The games we play, Robin. They are most trivial. You give, and I take. I give, and you take. One attack leads to a counterattack, and vice versa. We are an ever-churning balance of Yen and Yang. This City's outstanding symbol of the endless battle between good and evil. Our fated orbit is so elliptical and predictable in the rise and fall of dramatics, that we achieve nothing significant for our own causes. I never gain complete control of the City. You and the Titans never have a night of peace. Everything simply comes full circle. And, alas—as you have discovered—I have provided my end of the bargain. But hopefully, in this repetition, my plans will be exotic enough to extend outside of the boundaries of common decency and break the circle."

"Get to the point," Robin gritted his teeth.

"Now now, Robin. Both you and I know that the Titans have already gotten……'the point'," Slade said. His face on the monitor pivoted over…….and looked directly at me. "Apprentice," he addressed, "……I commend you on a job well done."

I gasped. My eyes rounded. I looked desperately at the Titans beside me and then back—unbelieving—at Slade's face.

"I would not have the upper hand that I now have if it weren't for your assistance, Noir," Slade 'spoke' to me. "Your distractions during the Carbonite detonations were effective in blinding your teammates so that I could strike."

All the Titans glared at me.

I sweated profusely. Panting, I tried to gesture. But nobody could read me. Nobody could hear me.

How could they?

What could I say?

I couldn't say anything.

Not a thing…..

Robin frowned at me and turned to face Slade again. "We all know about your little 'apprentice', Slade. You've tried betrayal on us before. We're smarter now."

"Are you all really, Robin?" Slade's mask leaned back as he folded his arms behind his back. "Yesterday while you and your Titan teammates were pinned down in the warehouse, Noir wasn't really chasing down the carbonite explosive."

Robin spat. "We pretty much figured that out!"

"Truly. But did you know that—at the time—Noir was actually retreating to the Tower to set up a Type Five EMP Detonator?"

Starfire and Beast Boy gasped.

Raven—shocked—looked over at Cyborg. "No….."

Cyborg glared at the screen.

Chills ran through my helpless skin.

How could this be happening?

"And today…," Slade menacingly added, "While you all waited what I hoped was your fate in the exploding scrapyard, my silent apprentice was performing Stage Two of my plan. He was arming the three long-ranged missiles which are presently aimed at the Tower and set to launch in……oh……about twenty seconds."

Robin's white eyemask widened.

The other Titans murmured.

I clenched my fists. I hyperventilated. Every will inside my spirit wanted one thing: Slade's testicles on a platter.

"You…..," Robin shuddered, but summoned enough strength to grumble: "You won't get away with this."

"Maybe I will…maybe I won't…," Slade's eye narrowed. "Either way, things are working towards the successful completion of the experiment. Whether or not you die, a new circle will be formed. A new Balance of Morals will be formed. Fate will swing on an invisible axis. This universe will be changed—at least in the way we perceive it—forever."

There were large glints of light in the distance.

The six of us turned to look.

Over the horizon of the City, three shiny objects rocketed towards the Tower.

"If I may say so…," Slade spoke, "…the defenses of your home base are most finite. Terra shut them down easily for my henchmen to come storming in. And in a touch of irony today, the EMP shockwave from Noir's explosive will completely shut down every electronic device in your abode. I almost wish I could see the effect my missiles will have on twenty-plus floors of hollow concrete. Good bye, Titans. It has been a rewarding experiment. And Noir? I suggest you get out of there, apprentice. Though—to be honest—it would matter very little to me if you were consumed by the flames along with your former 'friends'. I truly need your assistance no longer. Farewell."

Slade's image blipped off the screen.

Robin immediately spun around and glared right in my face. "Noir. Tell us where the explosive is!"

My lips quivered. I jerkily shook my head and shrugged.

Robin gripped the collar of my jumpshirt and yanked me down to face him. "Tell us!! Now!!"

I shrugged, helpless.

Robin raised a fist….

Suddenly a loud hum filled the Tower. The floor began to shake. The Titans looked around—gasping—as sparks started dancing more and more from the computer consoles while the lights overhead flickered.

Starfire stammered. "Cyborg…..," she breathed.

Cyborg took a deep breath. A solemn expression was on his face. "Take out the missiles," he said firmly. "Whatever it takes, protect the Tower. I'm sorry, friends…..I'm sorry I can't be there—"

"Cyborg!" Raven reached a hand out. "Wait!!"

It was too late.

The EMP bomb exploded from some concealed cubby hole deep within the bowels of the Tower.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!!

A plume of electricity shot out of the walls. The computers were fried. The lightbulbs exploded. And Cyborg….he tensed and screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAUGHHH!!!!!!!!"

Sparks shot up, spawned lightning out through his mouth, kissed his teeth, traveled down his neck, flexed around his shaking muscles, and coursed through his screaming lungs. In a moan, he slumped forward and fell flat against the ground. The bright blue was gone from under his titanium exoskeleton. Everything turned pitch black and…dead.

The lights went out.

The distant roar of three hurtling missiles outside settled in through the cracks of the windows and haunted our ears.

"Damn…damn damn DAMN!!!" Robin pounded his fist. "We needed him! We needed Cyborg!!"

Beast Boy knelt beside Cyborg, feeling his pulse. He let out a sigh of relief…but still looked worried.

"Without his laser cannon and disarming expertise, how are we to go about stopping the missiles?!" Starfire gasped.

"Any way we can…," Raven said. "…but we have to act now!"

I was only partially paying attention. Between the shock of Slade's lies, the EMP shockwave, and the collapsed body of Cyborg, my mind kept racing through something.

How???

I spun around and scanned the lengths and widths of the Main Room.

How?!?!

How could the EMP shockwave have gotten in here?!?!

My gaze wandered to the far corner.

Something wasn't right…

I yanked my shades off and squinted with naked, black eyes.

There was a petite figure in the corner. A shadowed figure. It caught sight of me catching sight of it and darted towards the elevator doors.

I gritted my teeth, jumped over, grabbed Myrkblade, slid, and blurred out of the room and through the elevator doors.

"Noir!!!!" Robin shouted. "Stop where you are!!!"

I didn't listen.

I was gone.

"Shit!!" Robin cursed.

"What're we waiting for, man?!" Beast Boy ran over and forced a window open with split-second strength. "Screw him! He never cared for us in the end anyhow! We got missiles to stop!"

"Yes!" Starfire hovered in the air and nodded. "We must hurry!!" She zoomed out of the window.

Raven ran after her. She paused to place a firm hand on Robin's shoulder. "We have time yet. Come on." She glided effortlessly out the window.

Robin looked at her…glared at the elevator doors…then looked solemnly down at the floor.

Cyborg's body lie silently…waiting for his teammates to save the day.

"I'm sorry I trusted him…," Robin spoke silently to the unconscious android. "I'm sorry I trusted anyone new…."

Cyborg lay silent.

Robin spun and ran towards Beast Boy at the open window. "Beast Boy! Up, up, and away!"

"Roger that, dude!"

Robin jumped and gripped onto a pair of green, pterodactyl feet. The winged creature flapped its wings and carried the two off towards the three incoming projectiles to join Raven and Starfire in the emergency defense.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

As soon as I ran into the elevator, I discovered a glowing-red hole in the floor beneath me. It was as if someone had melted an exit just seconds before my pursuit brought me in there. I stared down through the hole with black eyes. The elevator shaft dropped down the entire height of the Tower. It was cold and uninviting. And yet—I swore I could spot the distant, plummeting figure of the shadow.

I jumped up, straightened my body, and went sailing down through the hole and falling down the open shaft. My black hair danced wildly above me. My feet dangled as I glanced down at the darkness slowly swallowing me up.

Suddenly—about five stories up from the dreadful bottom, there was a flash of pink light.

My eyes widened under the shades.

A glowing hole formed in a set of elevator doors leading into the hallway.

That's where I wanted to go……

I held out Myrkblade, gritted my teeth, and jabbed the sword deep into the walls of the shaft hurtling past me.

SkkkkkkkKKKKKKKKkkkKKKkkKkkkkkk!!!!!!!

Sparks flew. Metal chips fell. A brilliant comet trail formed behind me as my cutting slowed my descent enough to kick my feet off the wall, yank out Myrkblade, and flip-fall into the hole, upon which I swung into the hallway (legs first) and darted down the obsidian passage.

Again, I whipped my shades off and stared ahead with naked black eyes.

The figure I was pursuing dashed to the right.

I made a turn to follow it.

It zoomed down a flight of stairs.

I slid down the railing on blurred feet and jumped in pursuit.

The figure spun around and aimed a petite wrist.

FLASH!!!

Pink light.

I shut my eyes in time to not be blinded.

I had seen this before……

Something heated flew at me.

I raised Myrkblade instinctively in mid-run.

CLANK!!!

I deflected a blast of energy and charged at my foe.

The dark figure spun, leapt around a corner of the hallway, and was gone.

I slid around the corner, Myrkblade held high. I came to a stop.

I glared straight ahead.

It was a dead end…and at the end of the hallway were the automatic doors to the Evidence Room.

They were slightly ajar.

Slowly…I crept in after my target…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Starfire's green eyes squinted against the press of wind. The waters of the Bay glittered deceptively pretty in the amber sunset. She soared over the waves, her red hair flickering like an alien torch, and soon she was upon the incoming rockets.

They thundered along in a perfect, triad formation. Their metal bodies—painted the traditional brown and black of Slade's liking—glistened in the sunset as their warheads wobbled threateningly and their engines roared in flaming ferocity.

Starfire brought two hands together. She growled, charged up a basketball-sized starbolt, and let it loose on the incoming craft.

FLASH!!!!

The starbolt sailed down…and merely bounced off the warhead of the lead missile.

She gasped.

The projectiles were upon her.

She barely performed a mid-air dodge. Her body shook in mid air and her hair danced as the missiles flew by.

Raven was next. She levitated to a stop and held out two nimble fingers. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

A huge, obsidian black 'net' formed in the air and stretched across the path of the missiles.

Slade's projectiles soared through them, and the telekinetic field snapped and shattered like levitating glass.

"Nnnghh!" Raven grunted, her temples scrunched up and pulsing. She gritted her teeth and squinted her eyes open.

Glinting metal came upon her.

She held her breath, twirled, dodged the missiles, and immediately aimed two hands on the straggler of the flying group. In so doing, she extended a warbling, black 'lasso' that latched onto the body of one of the missiles and yanked her along—trailing for the ride.

While Raven held on for dear life, Starfire's flight caught up with the missiles and she started vainly to pummel them with starbolt after starbolt of attack.

In the meantime, Beast Boy flapped overhead as a pterodactyl with Robin in toe. As soon as they got a good altitude over the incoming missiles, Robin shouted out: "Now!!"

Beast Boy angled his green wings and glided down. The two soared straight towards the hurtling bodies of the missiles. At just the right time, Robin let go of Beast Boy's legs and fell down past the missiles. He reached inside his utility belt, whipped out a grappling hook, took aim high above, and fired.

POW!!!

A cord shot up, wrapped three times around the body of the rightmost missile, and pulled tight.

YANK!!!!

Robin was pulled upwards with intense velocity. He absorbed the energy of his ascent and released it through his pivoting legs. Thus, he swung himself up till he soared around and above the top of the missile. The Boy Wonder pivoted his legs downward and found himself perched on the body of the flying missile itself.

He pulled out his staff, extended it, spun it, and stabbed it straight down into a square panel in the exoskeleton of the projectile.

"NGHHH!!"

CLANK!!!

He pried with all his might, trying to snap the panel open. But the harder he tried, the faster the missiles seemed to go. Soon he was riding a flying explosive straight towards home with Raven and Starfire helplessly trying to smash apart the other two and Beast Boy catching up overhead.

And the Tower kept appearing closer…….and closer….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

My feet shuffled as I crept into the pitch-black evidence room.

I held Myrkblade up.

My naked eyes scanned the room. To me, everything was at least dimly visible in the absence of perceivable light. Glass displays containing criminal weaponry from the Titans' history of adventures jotted up from the floor at every other step.

The walls were adorned with rack after rack of mysterious tools and props and infernal gadgetry.

The thing I was looking for was alive…

My footsteps—silent as ever—echoed annoyingly through the darkened interior. About the time I came to the center, I shuffled to a stop. My brow furrowed.

I twirled around.

I looked up.

The figure—petite and feminine—stood nimbly with one foot atop a different glass case each. The added height helped her glare down from above me.

A sickening giggle flew into the air.

The smell of lilies and strawberries and---

She flicked her wrists towards the ceiling.

"!!!!" I flipped my shades on over my eyes just in time.

FLASH!!!!

The emergency lights—previously extinguished by the EMP shockwave—were now on. The glow they emitted from four distinct spots where the wall met the ceiling was dim. But it would have been enough to blind me had I not been prepared.

The fiend knew this. For she was Jinx.

"Hehehehehehe!" She smiled her Cheshire cat smile and stood on one leg, pressing her hands to her girlish hips. "Ohhhhhh, you must hate me soooooooo much by now! Poor you with your mysterious black eyes and your handsome, devil may care looks. Face it…you were born to be a loner. Nothing else. You should be thanking me…."

I gritted my teeth as I glared at her through my shades.

Her quirky, gothic attire was no more. Rather, Jinx was now shapely attired in a metal and spandex mesh of black and brown. Slade's colors. She sported the traditional 'S' insignia on the left shoulder of her outfit.

The Third Apprentice incarnate.

"Like it?!" she spun around and 'modeled'. "I know, it's uniform. But it has its own good taste. Besides…everyone's so conservative these days!! Hehehe!!"

I exhaled, charged at her, and swung Myrkblade.

SWOOOOSH!!!

She leapt out of the way in a blur of pink.

SMASH!!!

Glass flew out from the glass display she was standing on. Two of Control Freak's remote controls tumbled out and spilled onto the floor.

Jinx flipped and perched herself weightlessly atop another display two yards off.

"Temper temper!! You should be mad at yourself, Mr. Ghost! It was your ambiguity that set you apart from the rest of the Titans! Much more than any single hex field I could toss!"

I growled breathily and stabbed at her with the tip of my blade.

SMASH!!!

Glass flew.

Jinx was already in mid-air.

Anderson's pistol from Westhaven rattled as it fell to the tile floor amongst glass shards.

"If only you could see the look on your teammates faces when everything came crashing down!" Jinx mused cutely. She hopped down to the floor and paced around me. Her warm cat-eyes distorted as I stared at her through the occasional display as she walked by. "The pain! The agony! The deepening wound of betrayal!"

I clutched Myrkblade's hilt. I hyperventilated angrily. I charged at her and swung hard with my sword.

She effortlessly leapt it and flipped over me.

A display was knocked over, spilling framed newspaper clippings of Blake Glover's scathing accusations against the Titans.

I spun around.

Jinx was in my face. Breathing hotly.

"Boo, ghost!!"

FLASH!!!!

A wave of pink hex shot into my chest.

I was blown back through a glass display. I tumbled and slid through a sea of shards and up hard against a wall. THUMP!!! The rack of evidence rattled above me, and eventually I was showered with bullet casings from Reload's maniacal gunslinging.

"You know what happened just months before you fell into the laps of the Titans, big boy??" Jinx daintily stepped towards me and grinned with her metal-gloved hands to her hips. "The Titans had their lives ripped asunder. Right underneath them! A girl called Terra did Slade's bidding, and the Titans' sense of security was shattered in an instant! Their pain was unfathomable. And almost half a year later, it's happened again!"

I panted. I sweated. I slowly stood up, using Mrykblade as a staff, and stared emptily at Jinx across the displays as she spoke. I was exhausted in boundaries beyond physicality…

"Slade has a Third Apprentice," Jinx smiled. "Another girl, to be exact. And the man has managed to use the elements around him—the ones of darkness which he knows best—to bring everything full circle. And it's all thanks to you as much as it is to me, Mr. Ghost! And yet…everything has worked out so perfectly! Like clockwork! The pain of the Titans now is almost equal to that of how they felt before they met you! Hehehehe…you didn't even need to be here at all!!"

I gritted my teeth. I charged at her.

She jumped over me, shot a hex at my feet in mid air, and perched along a wall on the opposite side of the room.

I went tripping and sliding straight into a metal rack where bits and pieces of Viper's voice synthesizer fell to the ground from my impact.

"And look at you!!" Jinx giddily cackled from the wall. "What good has this short-lived romp with the Titans done yourself?! You're all alone with your dreadful past and your cutesy little darkness! Oh, I've done my research! It comes from being buddy-buddy with Dagger through Slade!! You joined the Titans just to forget who you are! You joined them as a distraction from the truth!!"

I shook angrily. I grabbed the metal case of medical supplies Blackfire had brought in the form of Morgan'm and flung it at the evil apprentice.

The pink haired girl launched a hex bolt and shattered the case in mid air. She jumped down and perkily stepped towards me from across the way. "And that truth is…without the Titans…you have nowhere to go! Nobody to turn to! No family! No friends! And certainly…," and she grinned like Satan as she said this, "…no redemption."

My black eyes widened.

I sweated bullets.

I was struggling to breathe as if under a hidden attack…

But the truth is, I knew what was hidden…

I knew……

"So in the end, everything comes full circle!" Jinx Cheshire catted and raised two pink, glowing hands to the side. "And you are surrounded by nothing but the dry desert of two or three months of worthless, superficial memories!! Memories that will always stay with you…and haunt you. Because the only thing you ever treasured was the trust of your teammates. But even that is gone now that you are alone! Now that you are yourself! Now that fate has so easily pivoted around and given you what you deserved!!"

I looked to the side.

I spotted Mumbo Jumbo's magic, antique camera.

I sheathed Myrkblade and lifted the apparatus by the sand. I glared demonically at Jinx, huffed and puffed, and walked briskly at her with the 'weapon' held high.

Jinx giggled and stepped backwards as I approached. "Hehehe!! You lost, Mr. Ghost! Slade dealt you the final wildcard!! This Tower—and the future of your friends—shall forever be as much of a waste as your god-forsaken honor!!"

I let out a silent scream and flung the camera.

She dodged it. The antique went smashing to bits against the rack of evidence behind her.

Jinx leapt at me, knee first.

WHUMP!!!

I was struck hard in the sternum and forced back.

Jinx raised both hands over her head like a ballerina, spun, and high-kicked me across the chin.

I twirled from the impact and smashed through a display. Glass and photos from the Westhaven Opera House flew. My skin seeped blood.

Jinx cried out: "HAAA!!!"

A pink charged elbow slammed deep into my back.

I jerked in pain. My body arched.

Jinx twirled and kicked me in the side.

WHUMP!!!

I went tumbling across the floor and slamming into a wall. The racks shook and collapsed over me. I was buried in instruments from Anderson's yacht.

Jinx ballerina-spun to a stop, curtsied, and blurred at me on a carpet of pink energy.

She had improved her talents!!

I rolled forward just as a charged pair of wrists blasted a crater in the wall where I had slumped.

I jumped up, stood over the girl, and reached a hand back to Myrkstaff.

She didn't give me a chance to whip out the weapon. She kicked me in the shins from down below.

I hobbled over.

Jinx shot up in an uppercut.

WHAM!!!

My neck flew back in a painful pivot as my whole body somersaulted and landed against a booth, cracking the glass and causing the hanging costume of Robin inside that Control Freak mutated to fall from its support.

I groaned and flexed my aching, cut muscles.

So……much…glass…

Jinx stepped slowly towards me as I bent over in pain.

She grinned and aimed a glowing wrist straight at my skull. "Tsk tsk. Silly Ghost. Always such a gentleman. Even to his end. Ya know…you always did treat me like a lady…"

Her hand glowed brighter.

I barely looked up at her. I gritted my teeth.

Murk soared up through my being.

Time slowed down.

My body turned into a half-smoke of sorts. I blurred my right hand into my chest—literally through my osmotic body—and to the hilt of Myrkblade that rested on my murky back. In similar fashion, I converted Murkblade into pure smoke, dragged it through my body with one twirl, and solidified myself back into physical form as I spun Myrkblade and slashed upwards from my crouched position.

SWOOOSH—SLIIIINK!!!

Blood flew from the side of Jinx's arm.

The girl shrieked and jumped back, clutching her dripping cut. Pink tears welled in her eyes and she stared at me with a girlish quiver of the lip. "You…..y-you'd cut me?!?!"

I shoot up into a standing position. I had on a frown that could make pure stone ashamed of itself. Murk danced and warbled violently out from under my shades. In a blink, I flexed my arms out from my side.

FWOOOSH!!!

The glass shards momentarily danced off the floor and splashed outward from the pure intensity of my murk energy. My knuckles tightened around the hilt of my sword as I gnashed my teeth and leaned forward towards the Third Apprentice.

Jinx gasped and stepped back.

I. Was. Having. A. Bad. Day.

I took one step forward and practically burned the air through the force with which I slashed Myrkblade at her.

In a split second, I saw the scared face of the lonely sorceress girl whom I fought weeks ago atop the Westhaven Opera House.

SHOOOOM!!!

A huge rip formed at a distance from my blade in both the ceiling and the tile floor at once.

Jinx had jumped to the side in a pink blur.

I let out a silent scream and flung my warbling blade at her again.

Three rows of displays shattered on their own.

Jinx panickedly ran through a sudden shower of glass shards that cut the part of her skin not covered in Slade's attire.

I swung again with a wide open mouth of hatred.

A rack flew apart on the opposite side of the room.

Blackfire's green, alien bracelet fell and rattled to the floor. Jinx blindly slipped on it and fell hard to the ground.

I jumped high in the air, spun Myrkblade overhead, and stabbed mercilessly down at Jinx.

The Third Apprentice rolled out of the way.

SMASH!!!

I landed, forming rivers of cracks in the tile floor from my blade.

Jinx got to her feet, jumped off one display, two displays, flipped, and sailed down at me with two outstretched hands of glowing pink. "HAAAA-AAA!!!"

FLASH!!! FLASH!!!

I jerked Myrkblade up out of the tile with a CRACK!! Debris and dust flew as I peformed a last second uppercut that deflected both hexes away with one swing.

CL-CLANG!!!

The two energy flashes of pink soared back at her. She twirled her body in mid descent and landed in an agile crouch.

I knelt, flexed my muscles and blurred at her.

Jinx's body flattened down against the sea of glass shards.

I soared over her, Myrkblade first, and missed her entirely.

I rolled, jump to my feet, and spun around to face her before my slide was over.

Jinx jumped up, panting, and eyed a pair of Slug's magnums resting on a display next to me.

I raised an eyebrow.

She flung a wrist at it.

Pink flew into the magnum. The chamber rotated.

I took a breath and teleported---

BLAM!!!!

A bullet flew out—shattering the glass display and forming a hole in the wall far away.

I solidified a few feet away and started sprinting.

Jinx gasped and flung a hex bolt at another one of Slug's magnums…aimed more in my direction.

BLAM!!!!

Glass shattered behind me. I raised my blade and--

BLAM!!!!

CLANG!!

--deflected the last blast.

Jinx aimed ahead of me…at a vial of Killer Moth's acid.

The glass display shattered. Smoke filled the air as the acid spilled forward and burned at my path.

I leapt over it, grabbed an X-Wing model on wires overhead, and swung safely around and towards Jinx. I let go of the miniature spacehip, flew down, and swung Myrkblade in my descent.

Jinx's head ducked before it could be ripped off.

I wasn't playing around anymore.

The girl spun, slid backwards, and flung a hex bolt to my left. "HAAA!!"

A pink stream of energy landed in one of Viper's smoke pellets. It exploded just to my side.

I side-jumped out of the way, dodged two more hex bolts from Jinx, rolled along the ground, and snatched up one of Control Freak's remotes. I swiftly aimed it at something over Jinx's shoulder and pressed the huge red button.

ZAP!!!

Jinx blinked.

She spun around.

The huge, severed head of Mumbo Jumbo's exploded robot bunny—Fluffy—came to life from Control Freak's remote and snapped its razor sharp incisors down onto Jinx's head.

The girl shrieked, ducked, and step backwards just in time to avoid a decapitation.

However, she didn't avoid the harsh SLAM!! of my elbow as I charged into her.

The girl went tumbling over the sea of glass. She slid onto her knees, winced, and charged at me—yelling at the top of her lungs. "I WILL SILENCE YOU!!!"

I charged at her at matching speed. Suddenly I lowered my arm and tossed Myrkblade to the ground. It slid on the glass shards beneath Jinx's legs and out behind her. I then ducked my body and slid underneath the girl as well. By blurring my back, I avoided being cut by the glass. Once behind her, I grabbed the sliding sword, jumped up to my knees, and slashed straight at the girl's rear.

THWACK!!! A good piece of her pointy, pink hair was severed into floating strands in the dimly-lit air.

Startled, the girl ran straight into a glass display. Her face formed cracks in the surface. She groaned in pain.

I got up and marched at her from behind, gripping onto Myrkblade hard.

Jinx rubbed her face, stared into the glass display and—with a shout—smashed her hand through the glass and reached inside. When she spun around, she was holding Control Freak's double-sided lightsaber.

I came to a stop and held up Myrkblade at ready.

Jinx's cat eyes narrowed. She fingered the switch to CF's futuristic bludgeon.

PFFSSSHHH!!!!

Two red streams of energy emerged on both sides. The room suddenly lit up with a crimson glow that complimented Jinx's pink fury.

I glared at her, murk pouring out from my shades and Myrkblade warbling.

She let out a cry and spun at me.

The saber beams burned in the air.

PFFSHHH-PFFSHHHH-PSFFHHH!!!

I held Myrkblade out horizontally and deflected the attacks.

CLANK-CLANK-CLANK-CLANK!!

Jinx struck hard with a spinning jab.

I deflected with Myrkblade vertically…but I wasn't prepared for her follow-up kick.

WHAM!!

I dropped Myrkblade and flew from the impact through a display, causing video cassette recordings of Glover's broadcasts to litter the floor. I rolled painfully over the shards, got up, and ducked as Jinx came at me with a relentless flurry of red beams.

I was helpless to do anything but dodge and duck her attacks.

Seeing that I was so unarmed, the beat-up sorceress grinned as she increased her sadistic attacks more and more.

Eventually I was backed into lonely corner of the shambled room. My feet shuffled up against a collapsed metal rack…but there was something else of metal lying down on it. I glanced down.

Jinx aimed the ruby lightsaber at my throat. "Grin and bear it, Ghost," the girl winked. "I don't care what Dagger says….Fate was always meant to shut those freakish eyes of yours!"

I glared at her. I reached a hand down.

She cried out: "HAAA!!!" She flung the blade down at my skull.

I clenched my teeth and flexed my hand upwards.

Jinx's eyes twitched in shock as a wave of silver flew up into her vision.

CRACK!!!

Jinx hobbled back. The dual lightsaber had been slashed in two and she was left holding one, sparking half.

I spun back to face her from my massive upswing of Viper's broadsword. I now aimed the huge blade at her chest. Murk coursed through my limbs and into Viper's blade…turning it into a huge stream of white and black smoke.

Jinx sweatdropped.

I gritted my teeth and flew at her.

The sorceress panted and dropped to the floor.

I sailed over her, spun, and slashed the flickering broadsword straight down at her prone figure.

FWOOOOSH!!!

Tile and glass shards flew.

Jinx rolled out of the way and then tumbled as the wave of Destruction kicked her along.

I ran, jumped, and sailed down at her again.

Jinx scooted away.

Two displays shattered from my swing.

Jinx awkwardly scampered to her feet, came to a stop a few yards off, and stood at ready—sweating and heaving—with her lightsaber held up.

I glared at her. I walked over a few steps and picked up Myrkblade. I spun it in my left hand and spun Viper's broadsword in my right. I snapped them both still in my fingers around their hilt and struck a deadly pose. Both blades warbled with smoke energy.

Jinx's grip of her light saber trembled. She gulped. "Shit…"

I blinked.

I blurred at her.

"Shit!!"

SWOOOSH!!!

Both blades clashed together on her lightsaber.

The Third Apprentice hobbled backwards, blocking desperately as I spun around with a flurry of warbling blades. No matter which side of mine was facing her—either left or right—there was always a blade being swung at her defense. First Myrkblade took a stab, then Viper's broadsword, then Myrkblade again. Showers of sparks and trails of smoke and glowing ruby erupted across the room. My attacks and her parries sliced and burned through items of evidence and displays all around us. We were destroying the whole place.

I didn't care.

My time with the Titans was over.

The Tower was soon to be destroyed.

Everything was collapsing on its own.

So what the Hell?

I persisted with my relentless, cyclonic attack of the prone Jinx.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

At the same time all of that was occurring…

The Titans continued in their struggle to disarm the three, streaming missiles.

Starfire and Raven were pummeling two of the projectiles with streams of green starbolts and black telekinesis. The missiles flew on though, uphased.

Robin was still riding his missile, trying desperately to pry off the prone metal panel from the exoskeleton with his rod. "Rrrrrghhh!! Come on, dammit! COME ON!!"

A green falcon flew down onto the thundering projectile and morphed into a huge bear.

Robin gasped.

The bear winked a white eye.

Robin nodded.

The changeling roared and dug its claws deep into the panel. Its furry muscles flexed. One bolt after another popped out of the missile's side as the panel was pulled out. Then—SNAP!!!!

The bear ripped out the panel, which flew off and was melted into oblivion by the afterburn of the missile's thundering rocket propulsion.

Robin immediately reached into his utility belt and whipped out an explosive disc. He fastened inside the ripped-open panel amidst a mesh of vital wires and mechanical devices. He set the explosive, which beeped over the roar of the missile.

"Let's bail!!!" the Boy Wonder shouted.

The bear 'nodded'. It grabbed Robin by the cape and leapt mightily off the missile. In mid air, Beast Boy switched to a pterodactyl again…carrying Robin to safety.

The missile behind them flew for an extra few dozen meters before---

BOOOOM!!!!!

An explosion went off in its side.

The projectile careened off course and splashed heavily into the depths of the Bay below.

In the meantime, Starfire kept hurling bolts of green energy at the missile closest to her. Her pulses merely bounced off the metal sides.

The Tower was coming closer and closer and…

"Please!! Combust!! Combust for all that is good and lovely!!"

Raven flew up by Starfire's side. "Starfire!!" she shouted above the roar. "Let's combine our powers!!"

"Yes, Raven!!" Starfire's hands glowed bright green.

Raven's eyes were a bright gray.

"Azarath…"

Starfire gritted her teeth.

"Metrion…."

The alien girl's wrists charged a huge pulse of emerald fury.

"ZINTHOS!!!"

Starfire let loose a stream of starbolt power with a cry. "RAAAUGH!!!"

Raven extended her wrists and surrounded Starfire's beam with a cyclone of black energy.

The conglomerated force slammed hard into the closest missile's side. Superheating the metal. The projectile glowed a bright orange…but still it wouldn't blow up.

So Starfire added some extra force for measure. Her eyes glowed and—in the scant seconds to follow—two bright green rays shot forth from her eyes and joined hers and Raven's administrations.

And that did it… BOOOOM!!!!!!!

The girls cried out. They were too close to the explosion.

Their bodies were knocked down towards the Bay.

Starfire caught her balance and grabbed Raven by the shoulder before the two could plummet into the waters.

They looked up from the waves where they levitated and gasped.

There was still one missile hurtling towards the body of the Tower.

There was no way they could catch up to it now…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

At the same time, I was spinning serrated attacks at Jinx's body and red light saber in unabashed fury.

The sorceress gasped and deflected weakly, being pinned up against a wall more and more.

I sweated heavily and continued slashing again and again and again and again….

I only knew one girl who worked well with a sword, and Jinx sure as Hell wasn't her!!

Finally, one of my swings deflected the hilt of the light saber up from out of the girl's grasp.

SNAP!!!!

SLUNK!!!!

The blade dug deep into the ceiling. Sparks spilled down on us.

I spun both Myrkblade and Viper's broadsword and prepared to rip off Jinx's torso from both sides. Like a huge pair of scissors.

The Third Apprentice would have nothing of it. She flung both wrists a my feet.

FLASH!!!

Pink hex knocked me back.

I slid over the sea of glass to the middle of the room where I stopped.

Jinx jumped, yanked the light saber out of the ceiling, flipped, and sailed down at me.

I deflected with the broadsword and stabbed with Myrkblade.

Jinx twirled about and swung a red ruby fury at my leg.

I leapt over the swing.

Jinx quickly spun and stretched a free hand out at my airborne body.

"HAA!!!"

FLASH!!!

I was sent tumbling forwards. With both swords at my side, I slammed chest-first into a wall.

Jinx spun her light saber, gritted her teeth, and flew at me.

She jabbed the burning saber into the square of my back.

I exhaled.

I leaned backwards at a severe angle and criss-crossed Myrkblade and Viper's sword over my head in reverse.

CLAMP!!!!

Jinx was stuck with her glowing saber stuck between the 'X' of my backward swords.

I grunted and grinded the blades against the saber.

Jinx was forced back with a twirl.

I leaned back up. I spun my two swords. I tossed them into the air.

I summoned murk, teleported, and solidified backwards in time to catch the hilt of my blades on their return to earth. I spun Myrkblade now in my right and Viper's now in my left as I marched towards Jinx.

The girl panted and desperately jabbed again with her saber.

I swung my two blades together so fiercely, I sent a shockwave down the body of Jinx's lightsaber that exploded in the hilt and shattered the weapon apart from her grasp for good.

She gasped. She tried to blur away….

My eyes glared.

I would have none of it.

I crossed the blades into an 'X', tensed my legs, and blurred directly at her in an infinite slide.

WHAM!!!

The broad, dull sides of the blades slammed into the girl and forced her straight through the wall of the evidence room.

SLAM!!!

CRASH!!!

I sailed the two of us through the wall, across a passageway, and through the wall on the other side.

CRASSSSH!!!

I let out a silent scream and thought: 'To heck with it!'

I shoved the two of us along a blurred path through several walls of the Tower. The sheer force of my blurred speed and the two blades pressed against Jinx sent us through the structures like a bulldozer at Mach 5.

CRASH!! CRASH!! CRASH!!

And—suddenly—everything exploded in white light.

I had smashed us through the wall to the outside world of the Bay surrounding the Tower.

In a fraction of a second—having shoved Jinx out into the open—I stretched both blades out and held my body from plummeting into the air.

I squinted under my shades as the brightness stabbed its way in.

I looked straight down as a chunk of the Tower's wall face sailed to the bluffs below and smashed to bits.

Jinx was clinging to the side a few feet down.

She gasped for breath, holding on for dear life.

I had no compassion in my gaze.

She looked behind her….and suddenly grinned. In fact, she giggled.

"Hehehehehehe!! A fine fight you put up, Ghost! But all things must eventually struggle with Fate clamps her cold fingers around their necks!"

I looked up. I gasped.

A missile was heading straight towards me….and the Tower.

"Send my regards to Hell!!" Jinx said. Then she giggled. "Oh, my mistake! You're already there!!"

She released her grip. She fell down the length of the Tower. Her feet moved in mid air, blurring into a pink fury that carried her along the vertical stretch of granite and sent her streaking down the Tower and safely over the waters of the Bay.

I glared at her retreating figure.

I sweated and looked up at the incoming projectile.

The Tower vibrated and the air heated up from the missile's proximity.

I realized—to both my horror and curiosity—that the missile was practically at the same elevation as the Tower's floor I was now on.

I turned around and looked at the tunnel I had made in my plowing fury.

I had already smashed a hole through one half of the Tower's width.

Who could say I wasn't capable of doing the same to the other half?

Fate indeed……

I took a deep breath and started spinning both Myrkblade and the silver broadsword.

The air thundered behind me.

My two blades spun and blurred.

The missile careened in on my rear.

The weapons flickered with the smoke of Destruction.

SHOOOOOM!!!!

I exhaled deeply and blurred straight ahead of myself.

I soared down the 'tunnel' and made it back into the Evidence Room and was tearing through its wall in no time flat.

CRASH!! CRASH!! CRASH!!

I bored through the width of the Tower on blurred feet.

My dual, spinning blades acted as a giant drill with smoking fury.

CRASH!! CRASH!! CRASH!!

I sailed through a computer room, a utility closet, a hallway, the infirmary, Beast Boy's room, all sorts of rooms I could care less about anymore.

All the time the missile soared through the fresh, horizontal wound I made.

It ate at my blurring heels as I drilled along.

And---

A flash of white.

SWOOOOOSH!!!!

Emerging through the other face of the Tower, I leapt out and directly stabbed to the side. Myrkblade was embedded into the outside surface of the Tower. Putting weight on the weapons hilt, I swung my whole body around and out from the exit of the tunnel.

The missile thundered pass me. I didn't count on the intensity of its afterburn. My sword and I were shaken from the side of the Tower.

I gasped and dropped Viper's sword in my descent.

Using an expert dispersal of smoke energy, I glided my body via murk over the bluffs and deep into the salty water of the Bay.

In the meantime, the missile's engine died out as it surpassed the recquired distance of travel. The projectile fell down onto the waves, skipped over the waters like a giant stone, and submerged somewhere into the depths where it exploded—sadly—unnoticed by anyone save for the unsuspecting fish.

A plume of salt water splashed momentarily in the air.

And that was it.

I swam forlornly to shore.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The Sun had nearly set when I stumbled out of the waves and up onto the rocky bluffs of the Tower's island.

I dropped Myrkblade with a CLANK! and slumped to the ground, panting for breath. Wet as a dog.

Everything was cold and chilling.

Aching…

Lonely.

I looked up.

I squinted through the water-drenched shades over my eyes.

There stood Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire.

On the elevated bluffs above me.

Glaring….

I panted for breath. I sat on my knees.

So what if they hadn't seen me save the Tower from that last missile?

So what if they didn't trust me.

Let's just get it over with…

Robin seemed to agree. He broke the silence by reaching out his hand from afar and saying: "Noir….give me your communicator."

I took a painful breath.

That was it.

I pulled it out from my suit, looked it over once, and tossed it at him.

Robin caught it. Not once did he stop glaring at me. He sighed and said, "You have ten minutes to get away from the premises of the Tower. If we so much as see you in this City from now on….you will be dealt with."

"Robin!" Raven snapped. "Aren't we going to turn him in??"

Robin glared at her. "No. As much as we should…what would prison or the authorities teach him??" He looked back down at me. His gaze was cold through his mask. Like a stranger. "He's to face the only punishment worthy of a traitor. A life without friends. The life he always had…"

My insides hurt. Like shattered ice against throbbing arteries.

I wanted to roll over and die.

But I instead got up on weary legs, grabbed my one possession to myself—Myrkblade—and limped away from the group.

Beast Boy folded his arms and stared angrily at the waters.

Starfire hugged herself and closed her eyes.

"So what do we do now….," Raven muttered.

Robin stared at the communicator. His hand shook as he clenched it hard.

"We learn."

He growled and tossed it hard against the bluffs.

SMASH!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Stars were beginning to show as I trudged painfully down that land bridge towards Town.

The same bridge I always took on those walks I loved.

The walks to be alone and compose myself between battles with the Titans.

Now it was a permanent road…and the horizon was my 'self'.

And it was not a future I looked forward to.

And yet, the whole time, it seemed right.

It felt right. It tasted right.

These black eyes…lonely freaks in a night without sunrise.

I didn't look back. Not once.