These Black Eyes

by P0ST

The ongoing adventures and experiences of the Teen Titans, as witnessed through the eyes of a silent newcomer.

57. Full Circle part 4

57. Full Circle part 4

"……b-but I don't know. I've worked for other people long enough! I-I'm not gonna become a slave again now that I'm free!"

"But child, you have always been free. Your recent defiance against H.I.V.E. testifies the immense power you hold in your being. And it is a most fantastic and terrifying power, capable of wielding the Hands of Fate themselves. When I ask to take you under my wing, it is not an obligation. It is a request. The organization that adopted you before turned you into something you couldn't possibly have chosen to be. They needed something that you weren't. I, on the other hand, need you as you are. I need your power, your determination, and your resolve. By my own devices, I feel that I am incapable of reaching my goals. And—to be honest—if you are on your own, you have no other devices to rely on…"

"I'm perfectly f-fine on my own!"

"Surely you do not believe that, child. Your heart aches for hands you cannot see. For warm faces you cannot touch. Two long, lost sisters. Abandoned and floating in the darkness of the criminal underworld. Your every waking hour is filled with the longing to find them and free them from the very same slavery you were subjected to. This desire was foremost on your mind when you left H.I.V.E. And now—more so than ever—it is the very peak of your aspirations."

"How……how do you know me so much?"

"I know those whom I feel a connection to. A special bond that echoes of our parallel struggles. You Jinx, like me, are a wandering nomad in a world that couldn't possibly accept you. You dash from city to city, trying to find tolerance. And for you, you can only find that in your two lost sisters. I assure you, Jinx, I can give you the support you need. Together, we will be two shattered halves making a whole. A teacher and his student. Together, we could grow."

"But you're a terrorist!"

"I am an artist. And you, you are a 'witch'…are you not?"

"I'm not a witch! I'm just………I'm scared……"

"That is a more flattering description of you. It would seem as though each of us is named unfairly by this twisted world we live in. How better can we exist than with the strength of each other to lean on?"

"…………I……I accept. I will agree to your terms. Provided that you—"

"---help find your sisters. Yes, Jinx. I shall search with all the strength we have combined. Your siblings will be found. Your family will be made whole. Tolerance will be yours to warm you once again."

"Thank you……Slade."

"Just call me 'teacher', Jinx. And I shall call you……my apprentice…"

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

Clip!

The shiny new locket opened in Jinx's hands.

Two smiling girl faces posed in the photo that Slade had pieced back together for her.

The pink haired sorceress sighed, staring at the image with faded cat eyes.

She stood in her black and brown apprentice suit of mesh and metal.

In front of her was a sealed door with a turning wheel.

The whole structure bobbed up and down and Jinx with it like the deck of a ship.

Jinx closed her eyes.

Flip!

Snap!

She closed the locket and dropped it back down the front of her jumpsuit. She twisted the wheel and opened the sealed door.

She walked in…closing it behind her.

The cabin was much darker than it needed to be. It was a hell of a lot more open than normal cabins in the interior too. But that's the way Slade seemed to love his hideouts. And Jinx wasn't about to question her teacher.

Gears and axels and pistons of some infernal machine creaked and clanked high above in the shadowed ceiling as Jinx lightly tread across the spacious interior to a circular window. The shadow of Slade stood, facing out the window and eyeing the moonlit waves beyond the bow of ship that they were on.

"A job well done, apprentice," Slade said calmly without looking. "Your talents are most spectacular. Combined with my initiative, our strength is unstoppable."

"You can relax now, Slade," Jinx smiled her Cheshire cat grin and leaned with a hand to her hip. "The Ghost-boy has been banished as the total scapegoat of the Titans' troubles. And their stupid Tower was helpless to the missile launch."

"And yet…it is still standing," Slade spoke emotionlessly. Without turning around, he held up a remote and clicked it. A t.v. screen flashed to life against the black walls of the cabin, displaying the still-in-tact Tower with a gaping hole in its side.

Jinx gasped. She clenched her fists. "But…but…impossible!! The EMP Shockwave went off!! I was distracting Noir!! The leftover Titans couldn't possibly have taken out all three missiles and—"

"Do not despair, my fair apprentice," Slade spun around and stared softly at her with his emblazoned eye. "Whether or not the Tower is still standing matters little. Your task was accomplished to its full extent."

"But…..but…."

"The Titans are full of despair. Their trusted ally is a friend no more. All this time, you have played the part of the phantom, Jinx. But now you truly are the phantom. They have no way of knowing that you are the Third Apprentice. And it is not so much because of an inability to locate clues to your presence at the crime scenes…but rather a blindness of the mind and a wound in the heart that keeps them from seeing the truth. The truth is that their friend Noir is nothing. Not a villain. Not a hero. He is merely a figurehead for their hate. The Titans' emotions are their greatest enemy. You and I can now slip in and lure the Titans into their greatest fate yet."

Slade turned about and gestured out the window as Jinx listened.

"Everything has already come full circle. The happiness, the shock, the drama, and the tragedy. The Titans are back in that same nest of torment where I had last confronted them. The only thing in their hearts now is the heated pain of betrayal. And now that the dagger has been dug once again in the same old hole, I can start all over again. I can do things right this time. And I have you to thank for that, apprentice."

"It was your plan all along," Jinx said. "You point. I go. You lead. I follow. The fate of the Titans matter little to me. The only one I truly ever had a need to claim vengeance on was Ghost boy." She grinned. "But I think he feels now what it was like to be me. To have lost the trump card I needed to find my sisters with…"

"The Khazza Jewell, I assume?" Slade turned and glanced at her. "Child…that would never have gotten you anywhere." He walked over towards her and softly placed a gloved hand on the metal mesh of her shoulder. "Have you forgotten my promise, apprentice? With all my power, I am searching for the whereabouts of your sisters. I am getting closer and closer to the truth. I can sense it. And when I find the truth, I will point you in the right direction. After all, I owe it to you so dearly. You have served the Master well, and the Master is very rewarding…"

Jinx looked at him. She blushed. "Of c-course….," she smiled with her eyes closed. "I-I can almost see my sisters now! It's been so long…"

"Patience, Apprentice," Slade removed his hand and paced slowly across the cabin's interior. "Your glory will come…as will mine."

"What's our next course of action?" Jinx asked. She gestured, "Now that Noir is out of the Titans' lives forever…what's there to move on to? They'll obviously think they've caught up with you some!"

"Thanks to the role you played, they will assume they've had a partial victory," Slade nodded. "As for the next course of action, I must consult Dagger. I will need you too, of course, but Dagger's already proven useful in his computer expertise. We've made good use of his falsified data and we'll make good use of it again. Indeed, Noir is out of the Titans' lives for good. But his supposed 'treachery' isn't. The Titans' leader, Robin, is a detective. I know him well. He won't forget an enemy. Especially a new one. As we speak, he is searching for any residual bits of information the 'traitor' left behind. And if Dagger still pulls his part of the bargain…it will lead the Titans further and further into our hands. And the Experiment will consume them…"

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

"Cyborg…can you hear me? It's Raven?"

The android's red eye came to life. He stirred and groaned as the blue light returned to his titanium body. He tried sitting up.

"Easy…," Raven settled him back down with a graceful hand and offered him some water.

He eagerly sipped it, swallowed, and coughed.

"How do you feel?"

Cyborg wheezed and managed: "Like a burnt-out toaster." He blinked and looked straight up at the ceiling of the Main Room. "The power's back on."

Raven nodded. "The EMP Explosive was enough to short out half a city. Knowing that the Tower encompasses a power generator fit to run four cities, the effects of the shockwave weren't permanent. We came back online about an hour and a half ago. During that time, I've been recharging you."

Cyborg glanced over at a pile of batteries wired into his side. He took a deep breath. "Ah yes. The proverbial electric finger of God." He coughed…then managed a weak smile. "Thanks, Rae."

"Don't mention it."

A beat.

Cyborg blinked. He sighed. "Noir….is he—"

"Gone for good," Raven droned. Her blue eyes stared soullessly through Cyborg. "Naturally, he completely abandoned us while we saved the Tower from the missiles. Though, at some point he must have had a slight twinge of conscious. He kept the last missile from blowing up the Tower. Soon after that, Robin had no choice but to banish him. That was five hours ago."

Cyborg looked to the side. His face was exhausted, despite the fact he had been shut down since the late afternoon. "He might as well have let the missile take out the Tower. Now we have to live with this place to remind us of him…"

"Your father built this Tower, Cyborg," Raven said. "As much as you hated your father, do you always think of him as you're walking through these cold, metal halls?"

Cyborg thought of that. He shook his head. "No…I don't think of him."

"Then what do you think of?"

Slowly, the android smiled. "Friends." He raised a titanium hand up and placed it on Raven's shoulder. "My true…friends."

Raven smiled ever so slightly. "Welcome back, Cyborg. It's time we all started over again."

He nodded. He sat up slowly—with a groan—and rubbed his head. He became aware of a racket of typing and keystrokes behind him. He turned around to see Robin going at it madly in front of a side computer.

"Cyborg, you're up. Good." The Boy Wonder absent-mindedly uttered without looking.

"Nice to see you too, Robin," Cyborg got up. He limped towards Robin as much as the battery cords would give him slack and leaned on the back of the Titan leaders' chair. "Noir has been kicked out of the Tower and we all barely escaped total annihilation. Now just what are you up to?"

"Since that traitor's no longer with us…," Robin muttered while typing, "…I deactivated his security codes for computer access. Now I can trace more data concerning his file transfers in and out of the Tower."

"Can you find out exactly what he was saying to Slade?"

"No. But—Lord willing—I can find out where Slade was when he received the transmissions from Noir."

Cyborg's eyes traced the corners of the room. He cleared his throat. "Uh….Robin…don't you think you should…..rest a little?"

"Just because you've been deactivated for the last five hours doesn't mean I should sleep too."

Cyborg frowned and planted his hands on his hips. "That's not what I meant and you know it, man! I know you, Robin. You worry about the Team too much! Don't let this betrayal get to you so bad! Lord, we all know how crazy you get whenever the Titans are endangered!"

Robin swiveled around. "You weren't there, Cyborg!! You weren't there!!" He clenched his fists and furrowed his brow. "If only you could have seen him! If only you could have looked at that mock look of surprise! That scripted gasp and pale shock! And—oh—how Noir just simply ditched us when the lights in the Tower went out, you fell down like a rust bucket, and the missiles were incoming!! Maybe if you were there and awake at the time the damned rat turned his back on us for good, you'd be a little restless too, don't ya think?!"

Even as Robin's loud voice echoed against the walls, he was already swiveling back to work at the computer.

Cyborg was silent and solemn for a good few seconds before quietly responding: "I was there when Terra betrayed and attacked all of us, Robin. I know what it's like to have a close, close friend rip your heart out from under you."

"This is different…," Robin grunted under his breath.

"How's it different, Robin? Because Noir's a guy? Or is it because he saved our butts ten times more than Terra ever did during the short time she was with us?? Or is it that he can't speak?? And from the beginning it felt like we had a silent killer hiding among us like a snake??"

"I don't want to talk about it…."

Silence.

"Robin…," Cyborg placed a hand on the Boy Wonder's shoulder. The Titan leader stopped typing. "Slade may have control over Noir. He may have once had control over Terra. But he never….never…had control over you. You've always been our leader, Robin. And you never forgot not. Never. Not even when he forced you to fight against us and you did everything in your power to keep us safe."

Robin's body rose and fell with a sigh.

"What Noir has done…it's not your fault. We all got close to him. I guess….I-I guess we all just forgot that the Titans are a group of five. We can't afford to get close to anyone else anymore."

Silence.

Robin replied under his breath, "I suggest you take a look downstairs." The Boy Wonder's speech was quick and sharp. It was like he was hiding a sudden weakness in his throat in the best way only boys can. "Beast Boy and Starfire may need some help with cleanup."

Cyborg removed his hand. He took a deep breath and headed towards the elevator doors.

He passed by Raven, who was pouring herself some herbal tea.

"So…where exactly is this 'cleanup' going on?" Cyborg asked.

Raven sipped. "Just follow the hole."

Cyborg paused and swiveled to face her. "Hole??"

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

Moonlight filtered in from the side of the Tower facing the City--danced its fading way through over a dozen smashed rooms, corridors, and hallways—and met the starlight coming in from the side of the Tower facing the Bay.

As Cyborg stepped out of the stairwell and looked both ways with a gaping mouth of shock, he realized that a tunnel had been bored clear through the width of the building.

"My God….," he stammered. "Why didn't someone call and tell me we were visited by a meteor!"

"Make that a missile," a disgruntled voice uttered.

Cyborg looked to the side and saw a hunched-over Beast Boy in front of what used to be his room. He was busy sweeping tiny bits from a huge pile of dust into a miniscule dustpan. The task was ineffective, and somehow the changeling must have known that. Indeed, he had a sour look on his face.

"Beast Boy….," Cyborg breathed as he stepped forward and looked inside the smashed room. "Man…I'm sorry. You've had this room ever since you got here. That's tough, man…"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's tough." Beast Boy spat.

Cyborg blinked. He knelt down. "Are you okay, man?"

"What does it look like??" Beast Boy glared. "I hope you're happy, Cy. You were the closest to that traitor. You could speak to him and all. Now look what he's done to us…"

"Hey!" Cyborg frowned and pointed. "Don't blame it all on me! You were his friend too!"

Beast Boy tossed the broom and dustpan down with a CLATTER! "Dude!! You think I don't know that?! You think I've forgotten that I practically broke down in front of Noir once?! I told him about my parents! I told him about my fears! I let him listen to me! I let him hang out with me! I even let him hug me once!!" Beast Boy growled and kicked a piece of metal and dry wall across the hallway.

It made a banging noise and echoed against what was left of the metal walls.

Cyborg winced.

Beast Boy sighed and looked down. His fingers were clenched. "Robin and Raven are right. They were always right. We never should have opened up to each other. We should never open up to each other. Not in this business. Not when we're superheroes." He looked up at Cyborg and painfully put on a mock grin. "Hello, Cyborg! How are you today?! My name's Beast Boy!" he waved a hand. "I can turn into animals and do tricks! I can kick bad guy's asses as a kangaroo or a hippopotamus! Do you know this kid named Garfield Logan?! Pfft! He died seven years ago in a tent besides a river bed in Africa! Woooo! Look at Beast Boy go!"

The green elf swung around and plowed his fist into a wall. He gritted his teeth and rubbed his aching knuckles.

Cyborg shook his head, sighed, and walked towards Beast Boy. "Look, B.B. Don't be dramatic."

"Just shut up…," Beast Boy slurred. His voice was beginning to shake with the same growing intensity as his shoulders. "I….I-I don't want to talk to anybody right now. You wanna clean up?" He pointed a trembling hand without looking Cyborg's way. "Starfire's in the evidence room. That place is smashed to bits. Sh-She could use s-some assistance."

Cyborg nodded. He knew it was best to leave Beast Boy alone.

He wandered towards the moonlight, stepping through holes and gashes in the walls. An electric light or two flickered overhead as he entered the glass-encrusted sea of what was once the evidence room. The Tamaranian girl was busy stacking pieces of evidence together in categorical piles for clean, efficient relocation. She divided her attention between that and the sweeping away of the river of broken glass.

Cyborg looked around at the room. His fleshly eyebrow raised. The evidence room is a relatively large place in the Tower. It was spacious and broad to fit in all the memorabilia and props collected from various, done-in criminals. It was wide enough to fit well up to ten of Slade's missiles side by side. And yet…just one missile had flown through the center of the room and the entire thing was smashed to bits.

"Awful lot of damage in here…," Cyborg thought aloud. "Just from one missile? Not even any of the other rooms I saw were this bad, and they were even smaller than this place. I wonder why…"

Starfire managed to hear Cyborg. She looked over and smiled brightly. "Cyborg! Glorious, you have awakened! Care to assist me in the Cleaning of Spring??" She beamed happily and lifted a brush and plastic bag. "I have utilized some tools in the gathering of the glass debris. I have also coordinated an effort to relocate all of the evil toys extracted from this City's villainy so that they can await refurnishing upon the successful repair of our Tower! I assume Robin will be most pleased by this endeavor, considering his insistence on maintaining the evidence room!"

"Star…."

"Look! See? Control Freak's remotes! Killer Moth's vials! Anderson's files! Viper's sword! Mumbo Jumbo's camera! They are all here! Er…well…Mumbo Jumbo's camera has tragically been disassembled in some inarticulate fashion, but at least the shards of its existence have been preserved!"

"Star…….."

"Would you care to assist me, Cyborg??" the alien girl beamed and hugged the broom to herself. "This will be a most glorious rebirth! I do believe the Tower was in need of reconstruction. Do you agree?"

"Listen…Starfire," Cyborg walked over and stood in front of her. "It's okay. It's okay to be sad."

"Sad??" the girl smiled. "Who is sad? There is no time, for sorrow! On my home planet, every Tamaranian knows that the next step towards recovering from an unfortunate occasion is action! And right now I am performing the 'action'! And I would greatly like you to assist me!"

Cyborg took the broom gently from her. He dropped it to the ground and looked down at her. "Unless I'm mistaken, on your home planet people would be making Pudding of Sadness as 'action'. So why aren't you in the kitchen?"

"I….I…," Starfire blinked. "But I-I am not sad! The Tower has been saved! My friends are undamaged!"

"All your friends, Starfire?"

Silence.

Starfire bit her lip. She looked down. "Noir……h-he was my friend. Our friend."

A beat.

The Tamaranian clenched her green eyes shut and suddenly shook. "I do not understand. I never understand." A beat. She looked up and her eyes were watery as she shook her head. "Why are earthlings so paradoxical?? Why do they claim to be one thing when actually they are another?? It is most distressing, and sometimes….s-sometimes I feel afraid to make friends with any more earthlings!"

Cyborg took a breath. "Humans are wacky people. But only some of them are both wacky and wicked. You still have friends that you can trust, Star." He leaned down and looked her straight in the face. "And these friends of yours won't let you hide your pain. After all, it's the same pain eating at all of us right now…"

Starfire sniffed. Green liquid trailed from her eyes. She looked down and rubbed her cheek with a gloved wrist as she spoke with quivering lips: "I do not wish to be eaten by pain right now. There is a Tower to be repaired. We still have to catch Slade. 'So much to do and so little time'. It is an earth slogan that I am almost hurt enough to believe…"

"Trust me, Star. Admitting that you're 'hurt' like you just did is the best 'action' any lonely Tamaranian on Earth could do."

The alien girl broke down. If she still had her voice, she would have performed her stereotypical request for a 'group hug'.

Cyborg knew her. He walked over and gave her a pair of titanium arms to fall into.

She did…clinging to him desperately as she shook and the green tears trickled down.

Cyborg stroked her back gently and looked over her red head of hair. Again, his human and robot eyes scanned the demolish lengths of the room.

"I just do not understand….," Starfire sobbed. "I can never understand…."

Cyborg took a deep breath.

Why was the place so smashed up?

And was what Raven said true?

Why would Noir—if he was on Slade's side—try and stop the last of the three missiles from destroying the Tower?

Why?

He just didn't understand…..he didn't understand…

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

On the West Side of the City, bathed in the dim glow of the myriad of stars overhead, the Bay waters lapped up against concrete bluffs holding buildings, towers, and various other structures in place. There were few cars on the main thoroughfare. Everyone was either asleep or dying in some other fashion. Stretched across building fronts and painted on the sides of a stray commercial bus or two, brilliant banners announced in a flash of red white and blue: 'Come Enjoy the Independence Fireworks Show! July 4th! Bayside Beach!'

The night was warm and dry. Like purgatory. And there I was.

I stood silently with my hands behind me. My tattered Titan costume fluttered with the breeze, as did my long strands of black hair. Myrkblade dangled in its sheathe across my back. Sweat was beading against my black shades.

My gaze lingered on the Bridge. The huge suspension bridge leading across the Bay and in towards the mainland of the Continent.

West.

My past and myself.

So much for rebirth.

I sighed.

I was about to make my first step forward when a voice calmly, casually interrupted me from the far side of the sidewalk.

"How can you leave already if you don't know the sound yet?"

I spun my head over.

Underneath a lamppost, the Messenger leaned with his hands in his sweatjacket's pockets.

"You know…the sound of one hand clapping?"

He stared at me with lazy, almond eyes. Surprisingly, they looked almost as exhausted and weathered as my black optics felt. For that reason alone, I didn't brush him off.

We waited out a few seconds…staring at each other under the dim lantern light by the bridge.

Silent…..

…..

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

"Another koan is an even freakier one. It goes: 'What did your face look like before your parents were born?' But I won't force you to think over that one. You already got that one koan to stress your head over, and besides—I'm no Zen master."

We sat and stood at the concrete wall stretched over the crashing waters of the Bay.

The wind was gusty down there. It blew the hot, dry air into our faces which burned at our nostrils and tear ducks.

It was dreadfully warm. Nothing was clean anymore. We were both sweating.

"But I bet it does make you curious, Noir," the Messenger said. He paced back and forth on the edge of the concrete, precariously balanced. Beyond him I saw the huge proximity of the suspension bridge, lunging its mass through the waters. My correspondent continued: "What could your face have looked like before your parents were born? Something tells me you're a bit…uninformed when it comes to your parents. Am I assuming too much?"

I took a deep breath, but didn't respond. My right hand absent-mindedly shuffled a deck of cards. My left hand hung at my side. It hurt for some odd reason that evening.

"The heck do I know?" the Messenger smirked slightly and twirled about on the edge, pacing in the other direction. "I've always know my parents like the back of my foot. And you know what, Noir? You know the back of your foot a heck of a lot more than the back of your hand. I mean…when you look at your hands, you divide them equally between looking at the back and the palm. But looking at your feet, that's different. You practically have to get into a lotus position to see the heels. Heh."

A pause.

He twirled to a stop and faced me. "Your parents, Noir. Your past. Everything that is about where you came from….you know so little of it. And yet, what you do know…you don't want to know. Is that on the ball?"

Silence.

I sighed.

I slowly nodded.

"Hardly is it any of my beeswax to pry into that quagmire," he said…pacing again. "From one ghost to another, I respect your past and need for ambiguity. But what I'm worried about, Noir, is how you're treating it all."

I looked up at him, tiredly.

"And when I say 'it all', I mean 'it all'. The lies, the coincidences, the happenstance tragedy that ended you up here."

I groaned and looked down at the waves.

"You feel so crushed that…as sad as it sounds, every good aspect of the future has been ripped from you." He leapt over and stood before me.

I glanced up at him, startled.

His brown eyes were firm as he pointed sharply at the suspension bridge. "If you step onto that thing, Noir, and keep walking….all you'll find is all that you didn't want to know and still don't want to know. You will become a shell of a human being. Full of regret. Full of pain. Full of longing to long for something you're not allowed to long for anymore. And—trust me—that would be enough to blind you from the truth. And the truth, Noir, is that you don't deserve to be here. The Titans are still your friends. They just don't know it. They don't know the virtue of your heart that is as true as it has ever been to them. They don't know the pain and agony you went through to save their asses no matter how much they treated you like Lucifer himself. And they don't know that you were fighting to stop Slade as much as they are, and that Slade used you as the ultimate wildcard to turn the wounded sides of their souls so that they were facing up to the burning sun again."

I blinked at him. I looked down at my deck of cards. In perfect irony, the Joker grinned at my face.

"Is life a set of calculations? A string of cause and effect integers that work together according to the push and shove of karma? Do you believe that your life is what life makes of it and not what you make of it?" The Messenger knelt down and sat at my side. The two of us stared out at the bridge stretching into the Past as he continued. "I tell you what…Slade believes that the universe is a dynamic cataclysm. Or at least he's recently started believing that. Consider him a karma convert. A turned-leaf into the world of spontaneity."

I continued shuffling the cards and listened.

"So he had an epiphany. So he heard of some sort of god-awful 'Experiment' to manipulate a 'Balance of Morals' in perfect assumption that morality is an integer in and of itself. So he got in touch with the king of conspiracy, Dagger, to give himself some backbone. And he hired the Third Apprentice—Jinx, as it appears to be—so that she could provide the spirit necessary to wield the pendulum of Fate. Together, all three are shaping, manipulating, and altogether guiding the Titans into some sort of ambiguous doom. And they used you as the barrel to toss in all the hate, animosity, and consequence of such an endeavor."

I bit my lip.

"So what happens now, Noir?" he looked at me. His brown eyes narrowed as he rested his hands on his knees. "I'll tell you what Slade thinks will happen now. You will become 'tragically overwhelmed' by all the unfortunate events that have fallen upon you. You will 'inevitably turn towards surrender' from having felt the rejection of the Titans. And thus you will 'be inclined to shrink back' into your former self. A shell. The past. Just like that." He snapped his finger and let his mouth hang open before finishing: "Noir, the fallen Titan, nothing but a degrading equation."

I exhaled…staring at him.

He slowly grinned. "But you are much…much more than an equation, are you, Noir?"

I blinked.

"Even when Jinx was beating you up, beating your friends up, beating your entire life up…there was one thing that factored out of Slade's equation. He could never count on the dedication of your heart to your friends. Yes, he thought it was enough to keep you fighting alongside them and give Jinx and Dagger enough time to frame you. But he didn't count on the fact that right now—this very second—the last thing you truly want to do is take that Bridge…and walk Home."

I stared at the bridge. At the water. At the blackness of light.

The Messenger smiled, leaned forward, and lifted his eyebrows. "Am I on the money?"

I slowly…stoically nodded.

"You are still a Titan, Noir. You are still on the good side. The greatest heroes are the heroes that do their deeds in secret. The ones who call the ultimate bluff and know what's truly in their deck." He held my hand and the cards inside up into the air, forcing me to look at him. "In the end, Noir. It'll be you who springs the wildcard on Slade. It'll be up to you to take the full circle in your hands and break it."

I stared at the Messenger. I stared at my deck of cards. My lips parted.

Again…the Joker was staring at me. I had only been shuffling them for a half minute, and already it was facing up at me again.

What were the odds?

There was a flash of green, and the Messenger's hand was no longer gripping my wrist.

I looked up.

My only friend was gone.

I was alone…facing my past.

And yet…there was something inside my loneliness that I had forgotten.

Something that was there in the days of my stay at the Norman Apartments. Something Janice had seen in my black eyes and criminals and villains in the night had gasped and cowered from.

The strength…the strength of loneliness.

I was a ghost…but a ghost with memories. And a ghost that looked forward to reincarnation.

I popped the deck of cards back in my pocket.

I stood up, turned around, and faced the world opposite of the Bridge.

For the first time since my banishment, I saw the Tower. The beautiful, ever-resilient Tower.

I took a deep breath and took a step forward.

My fists were clenched.

Karma had better find a damn good place to hide…

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

"There!"

"Found something?"

"I believe so, hang on!" Robin typed with a flurry of gloved fingers against the keyboard.

The next morning inside the Tower's Main Room, the Titans all huddled around the Boy Wonder as he worked through the data at his computer console. He went down a list of numbers and highlighted one line.

"Bingo! CHK2004A92-AK!"

"Okaaaaaaaaay," Beast Boy blinked. "Got anything that's not in R2-D2 lingo?"

"It's a code for a network address," Raven said. "If we match it with a legend of this region, we might find out where that computer station was for Noir to have sent an transmission too."

"I've been using the legend all night," Robin smirked. "I know where it is. Western District. Around the office buildings!"

"Could that be where Slade once was?" Starfire remarked.

"Or still is…," Cyborg added.

"It's the safest bet we have," Robin stood up and palmed his fist. "We better get there before Slade evacuates the place! After all….since his apprentice has been found out…"

Everyone was silent. They nodded their heads.

And…

"Let's get going already!" Beast Boy chanted.

"Right!" Robin nodded. "Teen Titans, G--!"

"By the way….," Raven interrupted. Everything came to a screeching halt. "Frederick Smith from the City Council sent us a message. Tomorrow night there's going to be a public event to raise support for the Independence Fireworks show on July Fourth. He wants the Titans to attend if at all possible."

"What for?" Beast Boy asked.

"He thinks if we appear…they can more easily dissuade the fears of the populace. With Slade and Dagger running amok as of late, the citizens are almost too afraid to go to a Fireworks Show."

"Man…," Cyborg rubbed his head. "We sure are being asked to a lot of charity events lately."

"The more the merrier!" Starfire smiled with her hands clasped together. "The people can only benefit from our continued reassurance!"

"Starfire's right," Robin nodded. "Unless there's a sudden emergency, we'll be there. Consider it a….break from all this."

"Dude!" Beast Boy smiled and pointed at themselves. "I am so good at this charity stuff! Any more of them and I'll be on the 'Man of the Year' magazine cover for sure!"

"Pfft," Raven rolled her eyes. "Make that 'Boy of the Year'."

Cyborg smirked. "'Beast of the Year'."

Starfire giggled.

Robin folded his arms and smiled.

It was the first time they all lightened up in days. And yet—as they all sensed—the memories of the traitor would waft back down to them.

They had to get moving before the wound reopened again…

"Let's move!" Robin motioned.

They all ran to their respective stations.

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

Outside the Main Room—perched like a spider on the side of the Tower—Jinx rested with her gloved hand pointed towards the tall windows. A mic was positioned on one of the glove's fingers. Around her, the defense and surveillance devices of the Tower were sparkling and dead from a couple of temporary, pink hexes. It was how Jinx managed to be close by undetected. It was how she always managed to sneak into the Tower…

Once the Titans were done assembling and formulating a plan, Jinx reached her hand up to her ear where an 'S' emblazoned speaker was nestled in the dainty canal.

"Did you get all that?" she whispered joyfully. "They're making a short trip to Ceti Point! And tomorrow evening they're attending some public address thingy!"

"There will be cameras and publicity there for sure…," Slade's voice murmured into her ear. "It would be prudent of you to secretly attend that event. If there was to be a……mishap while the Titans were being broadcasted, then the citizens' fears would be realized. The pressure will be doubly weighed on the Titans' shoulders. Their passion to find me out will increase tenfold. They'll be further blinded by the fact that they're crawling into our hands…"

"So you want me to intercede tomorrow? Got it! I'll be there with bells on my feet!"

"Save the cuteness for then, apprentice," Slade's voice lingered. "For now, make your way to Ceti Point before the Titans get there."

"What do you want me to do then, sir?"

"Wait for the Titans to enter the building. Allow them to look around some. Then when they start to feel the slightest bit puzzled at the lack of evidence in the place…perform some of your nasty demolition. Both Dagger and I know how exceptional you are at that!"

She grinned. "Do you want them destroyed?"

"I want them disenchanted. It is not their time to perish yet."

"Hehehe…understood. Jinx out." The girl giggled, spread her arms out, and blurred down the side of the Tower in a pink streak. Her brown and black apprentice outfit faded into the camouflaged obscurity of the gigantic world. She ran over water towards the Western District just seconds before the Titans themselves disembarked by T-Car, R-Cycle, and air.

She would be there for their arrival…a spiderweb of fate in the making…

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

Inside the cabin of his ship, Slade stared out the circular window at mysterious waters.

After a silent span of time, a t.v. screen popped up against the black walls.

Dagger's face appeared. He leaned back in his chair, twirling a blade in his fingers above his desk.

"How did I know I'd find you there?" the young despot remarked.

"Dagger….so good to see your stone face," Slade's emblazoned eye turned to glance at him. "I am always here. For here is where I need to be. What is on your mind?"

"You're in quite the inquisitive mood," Dagger said, unblinking. "As am I. Which means that both you and I are getting comfortable. And I do not feel well at ease when I am……'comfortable'." A pause. He leaned forward. "What is Jinx up to now?"

"With Noir gone…," Slade spoke. "The Titans feel their troubles are limited only to me. Jinx is now in the process of assuring that assumption of theirs is secure. The Titans will investigate Ceti Point—where your computer hacking has led them to believe I was once stationed to receive a message from Noir. And once the Titans are there, a trap will be sprung."

"To destroy them?"

"No, Dagger. To frighten them. The Titans have been full of anger and bitterness these past few days. It's about time they caught up with respect. Respect for me. And—in turn—respect for us."

"I fail to understand where your constant toying with the Titans is going," Dagger's cold eyes narrowed. "Would your will be manifested if you simply arranged their deaths?!"

"No!!" Slade suddenly snapped, breaking his calm. He fervently raised a clenched fist at the monitor as his helmet shook. "You have not faced the Titans as much as I have, Dagger. They are not exterminated through mere means of brute force or assassination! Superheroes never die in such simplicity! The rules of our universe dictate—however perverse—that the only way to end a vigilante's life is to coax it into submission! Two times have my schemes failed…for I was doing them completely wrong! You cannot control the destiny of a superhero in this universe. So what else is there to change but the universe itself? The Balance of Morals—my friend—is where the answer lies. Now that everything has been brought full circle, I shall break it! And I shall break it in as subtle a declination as possible! Do you understand me, Dagger?"

Dagger took a deep breath and leaned back. "Then what I am to assume…is that as long as everything falls into your plans, the City will eventually be free of the impact of the Titans?"

"Not just the City, my friend. The universe. And not just the Titans. But everyone who clings to the ambiguously defined concept of 'goodness'. This is going to be a revolution, Dagger. A revolution in the whims of karma itself!"

"Speaking of the whims of karma…," Dagger finally blinked. "It might be safe to tell you this one thing."

"Do speak…," Slade nodded.

"He has not left the City."

Slade's emblazoned eye widened. "What???"

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

Jinx flew down and landed gracefully on the building top. She stood up, held her hands out like a gymnast, and backflipped over the edge. She flew down, twirled up right, and extended her hands towards the window panes flying up in front of her. She let out a field of hex and was magically drawn towards the surface of the building. She clung to it, took a breath, and extended another hand at the window.

SMASH!!!

It shattered. Glass showered down like sharp water.

She snaked her way in, twirled towards a door, and quietly opened it.

She bird-toed down the hallway, crept around the corner, down a flight of stairs, and into a broad, dimly lit office room full of computer stations. She looked straight up at the high ceiling. The area was covered with panels. She gracefully ran over to a wall, hopped, jumped off it, and soared up to a ceiling. Two graceful hands latched onto a metal crossbeam. She then swung, lifted her feet up, and kicked a wall panel out of place. She slipped up through the fresh opening, nestled herself in the insulated crawlspace, and closed the wall panel after her.

She grinned and waited…waited…waited…for the Titans to come.

From her hiding place, she heard the rumbling noise of the T-Car's and R-Cycle's engines.

Minutes later, she peaked through the cracks in the ceiling tile and saw the bodies of the five Titans wander into the computer room and gathered in the center.

"So….um…is it the people's day off or what??"

"If this was a place of operations for Slade, he'd only need to use it temporarily. It's not workers for Slade that we're looking for. One of these computers holds the key to the transferal of data from Noir's station in the Tower to here. If we find that computer, we can learn more about the network signals Slade uses."

"And what good will that do?"

"It could possibly tell us when and where he'll set off another carbonite bomb or launch another missile."

"Oh."

"It would be a glorious step forward in eliminating his threat. How should we get started, Robin?"

"There're ten aisles of computer stations. Each of us will get two aisles. Turn on each computer…and start looking."

"Awwwww man! This will take forever! Isn't there a simpler way we can do this?"

"Stop complaining, B.B. This will certainly beat facing off against another one of Slade's phalanxes of robots."

Jinx smiled. She raised a pink, glowing hand. "What's there to face off if there's nothing less to stand on?" she giggled quietly to herself. "Time to bring the house down…."

Suddenly, the speaker in her ear crackled.

"Jinx!!" Slade's voice warbled. "Bring the place down now!!"

The sorceress winced. "Sheesh! I'm doing that! What's your problem?! Why the sudden hurry?!"

"You're not alone!! He's there!!"

"Huh?" Jinx looked around the crawlspace. "Who's there—"

WHAM!!!!

I materialized as my boot slammed right into the girl's face.

She tumbled off a few feet, rolled over fragile fiberglass insulation, and collapsed straight down through a set of ceiling tiles.

"Ooof!!"

She landed hard in a breakroom just a doorway beyond the computer lab that the Titans were in.

Jinx's nose bled. She looked up—wincing—at the hole in the ceiling.

I snaked down, fell, and slashed Myrkblade at her figure in mid-fall.

"Crap!!"

She rolled out of the way.

CLANG!!!

Sparks showered as Myrkblade sliced off a chunk of the top half of a copying machine.

Jinx rolled to the side, gritted her teeth, and kicked me hard in the side with a platform shoe.

WHUMP!!

I stumbled back against a bulletin board, twirled Myrkblade, and slashed at her from afar.

A string of Destruction rippled through the carpet and exploded in smoke under her.

"Yaah!!"

She cried out as she was lifted off the ground and into the air.

I planted my back against the bulletin board, charged up smoke, and unleashed it in a quick burst.

I was propelled towards her, upon which I batted her body straight across the breakroom with the blunt side of Myrkstaff.

SMACK!!

She soared over as a pink comet and smashed through a coffee table.

CRASH!!

She rolled through the splinters, clutching her side.

I landed, took a breath, and blurred at her with Myrkblade spinning.

She was scrambling to her feet just as I slammed into her.

WHAM!!!

SLIIIIIINK!! Myrkblade sliced through her costume, grazed her shoulder, and stabbed dead-on into the wall beyond the splinters. The sheer intensity of my powers sent the two of us smashing through two sets of walls—away from the Titans.

CRUNCH!!! CRUNCH!!!

After sailing through a room and a half, we were scampering over tile. The two of us slid and fell onto the slick floor of a commissary's kitchen. Myrkblade ripped out of Jinx's outfit, exposing bleeding skin. I tumbled hard into a dormant stove. Jinx slid across the tile, leaving a red streak.

I shook my head and hopped acrobatically to my feet.

Jinx stood up, wincing and clutching her shoulder.

I spun Myrkblade and charged at her with a jump.

She frowned and blurred underneath me with a pink stream of light.

I landed. I immediately jabbed backwards with my blade and warded off her counterattack.

I spun around and swung smoke-warbling slashes of Myrkblade at her.

She backstepped down an aisle in between metal utensil racks and cutting boards, constantly ducking my slashes and sidestepping my jabs.

At one point I took a breath and lunged down low.

Jinx jumped straight up and parted her legs. She perched with one foot on each countertop to her sides and flung her fist at me. "HAAA!!"

I somersaulted backwards into a kneeling position with Myrkblade held up vertically.

CLANG!!

I deflected the hex bolt, summoned smoke into my lower limbs, and sprang dramatically at Jinx's figure with my arms outstretched.

WHUMP!!!

I flew into her like a comet. The two of us were sent flying with trailing smoke and pink light across the width of the kitchen and straight-smack into a metal rack. WHAM!! We both fell down under a deafening shower of pots and pans and dishes. Jinx covered her fair head under the hail. I got bopped once or twice in the head and dizzily rolled across the floor.

Jinx jumped up—slipped on a spatula—and fell down hard on her butt. "Ow!!"

I grabbed onto a counter, supported myself, and stood up.

Jinx's rubbed her rear, wincing at me with thinned cat eyes. She saw where I stood…then eyed the drawers in the kitchen counter to my side. She immediately flung out a wrist and zapped the nearest drawer with a hex bolt. "HA!"

RATTLE

My black eyes darted to the side.

The drawer shook open, and a handful of serrated utensils flew out.

I deflected an armful with my blade and jumped back to avoid the rest.

Jinx smirked. She flung her wrist at the next drawer.

RATTLE!!

"!!!" I started running.

Forks and knives and carving instruments flew out behind me.

Jinx kept flinging hex after hex and drawers kept flying open in a trail behind my fleeing legs. I blurred across the perimeter of the kitchen as a swarm of launching knives followed me.

Jinx smiled evilly. "HAA!!!" She flung her wrists again. Pink flew. "HAA!!!"

I ran, ducked, rolled, and leapt—barely avoiding a carving knife or a pronged fork in each jerk of movement. Blades stuck and stabbed into the tile, counters, walls, and ceiling. Soon there was a wall of metal coming behind me. I looked up and saw a hanging light fixture. I jumped a swarm of slicers, grabbed the light fixture, swung my lower body to avoid a school of air-swimming forks, spun around, and slashed Myrkblade directly at Jinx from long range.

CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!!!!

As a result, the incoming throng of knives flew straight at her.

Jinx's eyes widened. She squeaked and flinched, cowering her head behind her black and brown sleeves.

She glowed pink in the nick of time.

TCHING!! TCH-TCH-TCHING!! TCHING!!

Thanks to her hex, all the blades spiraled out of the way and embedded into the floor and walls around her.

She looked at them, and sighed with relief.

SWOOOOOOOOOOSH-THUNK!!!

"ACK!" Jinx was pressed back against the wall. She looked up and saw Myrkblade pinning her pink tuft of hair to the metal surface. The hilt wobbled as it came to a standstill after my toss. Jinx's eyes darted back down and looked at me fearfully.

I took a deep breath. I jumped down from the light fixture, grabbed two rolling pins from a counter, twirled them, and ran threateningly towards Jinx.

"Nghhh!!" she tried to get away, but she was caught by her hair. "Damn it! Get unstuck!!"

I came at her. Rolling pins raised.

She tugged helplessly at the hilt of Myrkblade.

I blurred.

Jinx gasped. She clenched her eyes shut and instinctively shot two hex beams towards where the wall met the floor. FLASH!! With a burst of energy, her lower body twirled up as she hugged the length of Myrkblade.

CLACK!!!!

The two rolling pins came together at the end of my swinging. I had missed Jinx's body by an inch.

Jinx took a breath. She encircled her left leg around my shoulder. She growled and literally bitch-slapped my face with her right platform shoe while clutching onto Myrkblade.

WH-WHAP!! WHAP!!

"YAH!!!" she lowered both legs and kicked them off my chest.

I stumbled back about six feet.

Jinx's legs swung back down, and in so doing she pulled all of her strength at the hilt of my blade.

YANK!!!

She pulled the sword out of her hair, out of the wall, and landed. Teeth gritting, she then lunged forward and tossed the blade at me this time.

I jerked both rolling pins up in defense.

CRACK!!!

They shattered into toothpicks as Myrkblade sailed through them.

My head dodged the flying wooden sword at the last second. The blade clattered hard to the tile floor behind me.

Jinx brushed herself off with a grunt. She knelt down, picked up two identical butcher knives, and stood up—gripping both knives in each hand. She let out a warrior cry and charged at me.

I gulped.

SLASH!!!

I ducked.

Both of her blades came together, showering sparks.

CL-CLANK!!

"HAAA!!" She uppercutted with one and slashed down with the other.

I backed up.

She jabbed with her left butcher knife.

I twirled to the side--

She jabbed with her right.

--and I leapt backwards in a spiral. SLIIIIINK!!

Blood flew from where she grazed me in the left shoulder.

I clutched the wound and stumbled backwards…wincing.

She grinned evilly and charged at me with both butcher knives swinging. "HAAA!!"

I frowned.

I stood perfectly still.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!

Both blades came together at my neck…and touched metal-to-metal.

CLANK!!

"Huh?!" Jinx's cat eyes bugged.

I had turned to smoke form at the precise second she slashed. My neck tilted back as I solidified. While her guard was down, I quickstepped, jumped off the countertop to my right, positioned my leg on the counter to my left, and swung my other leg around in a spinning kick that slammed upwards across Jinx's chin.

SMACK!!!

She flew back five feet from the impact and slid along the kitchen floor.

"OOF!!"

I came down, rolled backwards, snatched up Myrkblade, twirled it, and blurred at her.

She gritted her teeth, jumped up…and met my charging stab with her butcher knives.

CL-CLANK!!!

I stabbed again and again and again.

She deflected and backed up. Sometimes with one butcher knife at a time. Sometime with both of them crossed as an 'X'. Sometimes with barely their hilts.

As we passed the edge of the counters, I kicked her back with my foot, grabbed tight to my hilt, and swung a three-sixty-degree slash that she possibly couldn't block. And she knew it.

SLASH!!!!

She ducked and jumped back.

Just as I expected her to…

At the end of my spinning attack, I twirled to a stop, blurred, and rushed at her—elbow first.

WHUMP!!

I sent her sliding out through the double-doors and into the commissary room beyond.

I ran and jumped-kicked my way through the doors. I slammed my boot into Jinx's chest when I emerged on the other side.

She fell back and slid across one of the nearly-dozen sets of fold up tables. Eating tables with white surfaces were spread out throughout the spacious interior of the abandoned eatery. A couple of windows filtered dim light inward that reflected off the sneeze guards of the al a carte line and the empty trayholders. Soon, a pink light rose and faintly lit the shadowed corners as Jinx charged up energy into her butcher knives and flew herself into a fighting pose as she faced me.

I twirled Myrkblade into a ready stance…took a breath..and advanced on her again.

She twirled at me with a streak of pink energy trailing behind her knives.

SWOOOSH!! CLANK!!!

Showers spark. Black smoke on pink heat.

I twirled Myrkblade, forcing her knives to the side and stabbed at her vulnerable side.

She blurred up onto a table with pink fury and jumped down at me, both knives raised. "HAAA!!"

I sat back against a stool, leaned my back against a tabletop, and lifted my legs. My feet met her and launched her across the commissary.

She flipped in mid-air and landed with a spinning slide against the tile; facing me.

From the table I kicked my legs, launched myself up, and teleported into an upright position—upon which I came down, landed on a table top, and blurred at her. My speed crossed the spaces in mid air between each table and soon—within the blink of an cat eye—I was upon her, slashing.

SWOOOSH!

She raised her knives up at the last second.

CLANG!!

She twirled one knife and shot a stream of pink energy at me.

FLASH!!!

I was knocked into the air.

I twirled horizontally and landed in an awkward, spread crouch.

Jinx charged and swung both blades down.

I deflected once with Myrkblade and spun my whole body down on the tile like a break dancer. I slid one leg out, tripping her.

"OOF!!"

I immediately kicked with the other leg, sliding her like an air hockey puck across the cold tile of the commissary.

Her hair ground painfully against her neck. Jinx clenched her teeth and vaulted herself up with a burst of pink energy. She flipped and landed just as I came at her, swinging Myrkblade down.

CLANK!!

She blocked with two crossed knives.

We pressed our blades against each other.

My weight against her agility.

Our heads leaned closer and closer to each other as we struggled.

Our noses practically touched.

Jinx's faced scrunched up.

I glared.

She let loose a fresh stream of hex. "HAAA!!" And pushed me back.

I slid a foot or two and twirled Myrkblade at ready.

And this time she came at me.

Swinging and spiraling and stabbing in either one of the two butcher knives at every chance she could take.

I deflected and parried with patience.

In such fashion, the two of us gradually carried the sword fight down the long aisle between the dozen sets of white tables in the commissary.

"Jinx!!" Slade's voice crackled into her ear. "What are you doing?! You must bring down that building!!"

"I'm kinda busy here!!" Jinx grumbled while dodging sword swings and striking with her knives. "Can't it wait?!"

"No!!" the voice shouted. "Noir can wait!! He is already out of the equation!! It is urgent that you bring down that building to further along our plan!!"

"But….," Jinx grunted and ducked a swing of mine. She parried and hopped backwards. "He will contact the others if I don't—"

"No! He won't! Trust me, apprentice!!"

I let out a silent scream and swung down hard onto Jinx.

She was shaken out of her conversation, blocking awkwardly with her knives.

I gritted my teeth and swung a leg under her ankles.

She fell…but in mid fall she stabbed into a stool with one knife, charged up a stream of pink, and miraculously vaulted herself up and onto the table top on her feet.

I jumped up the stool, onto the table top, and charged her.

SWOOOOSH!!

CLANK!!

She blocked and jumped to another table.

I leapt to join her, slashing down.

She flipped out of the way.

SMASH!!

The table turned to splinters from the force of my Destruction.

Jinx hopped off another table, flipped, and flew at me with both blades slashing. "HAA!!"

I deflected—but the force was too much. I fell onto the tile floor hard.

Jinx pointed a blade down at me and shot a field of hex. FLASH!!

I twirled to the side.

CRACK!!

A crater in the tile formed beneath me.

Jinx aimed again. FLASH!!

I rolled backwards and leapt forward in a dive.

CRACK!!!

Bits of tile flew at my heels as I slid under a table.

Jinx hopped onto the table and raised her knives over her pink head, watching for me to slide out from the other side.

But I didn't….

"…...," Jinx blinked. "Huh?"

SMASH!!!!

The table exploded upwards in a bulge from beneath her feet as I launched myself straight up—Myrkblade first. In slow motion, Jinx flew off with a spray of white and brown splinters. I sailed up in the air, twirled, and swung the blunt length of Myrkblade hard against her side.

WHAP!!!!

Time resumed.

She flew off about ten feet, smashing through another white table.

CRASH!!!

She rolled to a stop on a curtain of splinters, wincing.

I landed and blurred at her.

She stood up and stretched one butcher knife out in front of her to block--

CLANK!!!

I knocked it out of her grasp with an upward swing of Myrkblade.

The butcher knife spun straight up at the ceiling.

SW-SW-SWOOSH!!!

And sliced directly into the bladed faucet of a fire sprinkler.

CLUNK!!

The impact sent a chain reaction throughout the plumbing set in the ceiling above. Soon, water was trickling down in a smelly, indoor rain from every fire sprinkler faucet.

Jinx backflipped, landed with a table between us, and held her last butcher knife at ready with two hands.

I held up Myrkblade.

She panted…glaring.

I panted…waiting.

Water droplets fell across our shoulders and streamed down over our arms like liquid cloaks.

Under the artificial rain, we paced across from each other. With white tables and glares in between. Droplets streaked down Jinx's butcher knife and splattered off the length of my Myrkstaff.

Black eyes and cat eyes.

A wet, miserable stand off.

"Jinx…remember!" Slade's voice crackled. "Noir does not matter anymore! He is no longer part of the equation!!"

Jinx panted.

My eyes narrowed under the shades.

She let out a scream and came at me. Water splashed in fountains around her platform shoes.

I held Myrkblade out in defense.

CLANK!!

She stabbed twice more.

CLANK! CONG!!

I lunged at her.

She backflipped and landed in a wet slide across the tile.

SPLAAAAAASH!!

"He has been written out by fate, Apprentice!! Only the Titans are the focus now!!"

"I want to kill him….," she muttered. "I want to kill him so bad!!" She came at me. "HAAA!!"

I twirled to the side, caught her butcher knife with my sword, twirled, and sent her reeling across the commissary.

She landed awkwardly against the al a carte line and twirled to face me. Her wet body heaved under the shower. Her teeth grit and her cat eyes burned.

"You do not need to kill him!! As of right now, you are an even match! For you are even roles!!"

I slowly paced at her. My feet splattered menacingly through the puddles. Not once did I stop glaring at her. I held Myrkblade high.

"You are the Third Apprentice of reality! He is the Third Apprentice of fantasy!! Both of you share equal purpose in bringing the Titans into our hands!! But as identical as you are…there is one major difference that sets you apart as the victor in this case, Jinx!!"

"And what's that…?" she grumbled.

"I. Am. On. Your. Side."

Her cat eyes trailed.

I came at her. I twirled Myrkblade. I stabbed.

She parried with ease, backflipped, planted her feet against the sneeze guard of the al a carte line, and vaulted off with a flash of pink.

She landed on the other side of the room as I watched.

"Think of your sisters, Jinx……," Slade's voice smoothly said.

Jinx gasped.

"If you kill him…the circle won't be broken. The Experiment won't be reached. My plans will have failed and I would be powerless. And how can I help you find your sisters when I'm……powerless?"

Jinx panted. Sweat from her brow mingled with the liquid sopping her pink hair and drenching over her face. She looked up at me…cat eyes round.

I stood in place…Myrkblade held high.

Jinx suddenly found her cool. She smiled and hung her butcher knife to the side.

"Slade just gave me a command," she slyly lied. "He wants me to surrender."

CLANK!!

The butcher knife clattered down into a puddle.

"????" I eyed it…then looked back up at her.

"And who am I to disobey Slade and finish you off??" she smiled.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh wait!!" Jinx giggled, a wet hand over her mouth. "Now I remember!! I'm that sweet little sorceress you royally screwed way back on the rooftop of the Westhaven Opera House!! So maybe I should follow Slade's advice after all by taking this whole day and saying—TO HELL WITH IT!!"

I blinked.

She laughed like a schoolgirl, curtsied, and stretched her hands high to the ceiling.

FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I gasped.

Stream after stream of pink energy flowed from her fingertips and were absorbed into the walls, ceiling, floor, bulkheads, and utter foundation of the building we were in.

The whole place shook. Her eyes glowed brightly as her hands brought a pink sunlight of a queer sort into the naturally dim commissary.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

I raised an arm to block the blinding light coming at me. I gritted my teeth. I couldn't let her go through with it. I charged forward.

…and that's when Jinx brought her glowing hand down and aimed at the floor beneath me.

CRAAAAAAAAA-AAAAACK!!

I gasped as the tile split apart beneath me.

The floor shook me off balance. I fell towards the fissure just as a metal bulkhead jutted up—shook—and slunk straight back towards the earth. I reached out one hand and grabbed onto the edge of the precarious metal beam just seconds before I could fall five stories down into the fresh abyss formed by the sorceress's intense hex.

Jinx brought her hands down and girl-stepped towards the edge of the hole. She leaned over and smiled at my struggling dangle with her Cheshire cat grin. "The truth is…all debts are forgiven. You're no longer the target of my frustrations, Ghost Boy. The Titans are the main focus from now on. Me and Slade…we gotta watch out for them. Not you. You're no longer part of the equation."

I gritted my teeth as I struggled to keep my grasp. I looked up at her…sweating, dripping from the sprinkler water that was then sloshing down the hole and dousing me.

"Keep out of this fight…and you'll be safe," she smiled. "Try and intervene and—well—you'll learn if you haven't already that there is nothing you can possibly do to disrupt Slade's plans. Because Fate is on Slade's side. And Fate has sent me to be the Third Apprentice. There's no room for a hero anymore, Ghost Boy. Ciao!" She then blew me a kiss, winked, and giggled. SWOOOSH-FLIP!! She spun around and aimed a glowing wrist at me. "HAAAA!!"

FLASH!!

It struck my gripping hand. The metal beam snapped. I fell down into the gaping hole of the collapsing building with a silent scream.

Jinx's figure disappeared above me—leaping into oblivion.

As I did.

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

Meanwhile, the Titans stood up from the computers they were inspecting and gasped.

Robin's eyemask was wide.

Beast Boy's jaw hung open.

Starfire was all emerald shock. She glanced across the shaking interior at Raven.

"It's another trap!" Raven said. Pieces of ceiling tile and debris flew down beside her. She sidestepped them. "Slade's been expecting us!"

"Again?!?!" Beast Boy sweatdropped.

"This structure will not be a structure for long!" Starfire exclaimed as the glass of the distant windows started cracking.

Cyborg shrugged. "Robin, what'll we do?!"

"We can't leave now!!" the Boy Wonder exclaimed. "We're so close to valuable data!!"

"We have to leave!" Raven argued. "If we stay here and the whole building goes out, Slade will have his greatest victory yet!"

"What if Slade wants us to abstain from computer addiction?!" Beast Boy said.

Everyone looked at him.

"Allright! Sheesh! Sorry for existing!"

"Raven's right. Let's go!" Cyborg shouted as the ceiling cracked wide open above him.

"No! We're so close!!" Robin desperately typed at the computer. "We're so—"

Slade's face suddenly blipped onto the screen.

"So close indeed, Robin. You have no idea how close you are to the end."

The Boy Wonder gasped and stepped backwards.

"I commend you on your predictability. I'm always watching you. You know that. Be assured I'll continue to watch you even after this cold, heartless building squashes you into vigilante has-been."

Sparks flew from the computer as the lines were cut from the building's fissure. Slade's picture disappeared in an instant.

"Run!!" Beast Boy exclaimed, pulling at his hair and jumping out a window. "Go go go go go go go go!!"

Cyborg ran out behind him. There was a resounding CRACK overhead. He looked up. "Huh?! WHOAH!!" He lifted his Titanium hands and clasped onto a falling, metal bulkhead. "RRRRRGHHHH!!!" He held the ceiling—and the upper floor for that matter—in place through sheer strength. "Everybody!! Out!! Now!! I can only hold it for so long!!"

"I-I can still save the data!!" Robin exclaimed. He grabbed a computer tower. "All we need are the hard drives and—YIP!!"

Starfire flew by, latching onto Robin's arm and protectively yanking him out through an open window. "We must make haste!!"

"Nooooooo!!" Robin's voice faded into the outside world.

Raven hovered to a stop at the window and looked in at the shaking interior. "Cyborg!!"

"Could….use….a….little….help!!" he grunted.

Raven's eyes glowed gray. She reached out two hands. "Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos!!"

Two streams of dark energy flew forth, joined together, and wrapped around Cyborg's torso.

The android Titan took a deep breath and whimpered. "B-Be gentle?"

YANK!!!

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Raven pulled Cyborg out from the center of the computer lab. As he let go of the bulkhead, the metal beam came smashing down behind him. As a result, an entire cascade of ceiling slammed thunderously behind his sprawling figure as Raven tugged him out and safely through the window via a rope of telekinesis.

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

A green falcon, Starfire and Robin, and Raven and Cyborg landed safely besides their vehicles in the parking lot as the seven story building collapsed by the Bayside.

SMASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dust and debris flew. A mountain of destruction was all that was left of the lonely office building.

Then….silence.

Pedestrians came wandering in from the neighboring blocks, gasping as they saw the level of destruction that had occurred.

"Um….," Beast Boy scratched his neck. "Morale of the story: 'Make sure your computers have firewalls'?"

"Rrrrrrgh!!" Robin shook. He spun with a growl and punched the nearest hard thing he could find—the T-Car.

CLANK!!

"Hey, man!! Watch the Baby!" Cyborg spat. "No punching my Baby!"

Robin cleared his throat. "R-Right. Sorry, Cy." He growled, spun, and slammed his fist into the R-Cycle instead. Once. WHAM! Twice. CLANG!! Thrice. SMACK!!

Starfire gasped. "Robin! Your poor hand!"

He realized it by then. He clutched his knuckles through the gloves and hunched over. "Sh-Shit!!" He wheezed. He stood up straight and shook his head. "Damn it! We were so friggin' close!!"

"I doubt it…," Raven droned. "Slade had to have planned that from the beginning."

"Yeah," Beast Boy frowned, his hands on his hips. "Cuz it was Noir-boy sending him transmissions to this place! When we caught up to Noir, we caught up to Slade!"

"Perhaps it was….revenge," Starfire said. "For banishing him?"

"I don't care what it was anymore…," Robin grunted and paced between the vehicles and the Titans. "All I know is that we almost had Slade cornered. Now we're back to where we were when the traitor was working for him under our eyes. How're we to track down the carbonite and explosives now?!"

"I dunno about you guys," Cyborg said. "But I think y'all shouldn't have kicked Noir out like you did! We could have found ways to question him. Get answers!"

"That's what I suggested," Raven grumbled, frowning at Robin.

Robin frowned back. "You think he would have told us anything?! You think Terra told us anything?! And who would be the one to strap Noir into a chair and threaten the information out of him. You, Raven?!"

The dark girl's blue eyes widened. She looked away, breathing. That had silenced her.

Cyborg rubbed his head.

Robin composed himself. He flexed his arms and sighed. "Look….I'm sorry. This has….th-this has affected all of us. I can't deny the pain we're all feeling right now."

"You got that right…," Beast Boy murmured, his arms folded.

"I say we go back Home…relax a bit for the evening…and prepare for tomorrow night."

"What's happening tomorrow night?" Cyborg asked.

"Do you not remember?" Starfire remarked. "Smith's public appearance for supporting the Independence Fireworks show!"

"At this point…," Raven muttered, eyeing the collapsed building. "I think Smith's opponents may be right in their complacency…"

"We shouldn't allow such pessimism and paranoia to rule the citizens of this city," Robin said. "We've got to let them know that the Titans can still be believed in. Despite our setbacks, our struggles…….o-our traitors. We're still a team that upholds the justice and prosperity of this City. Mark my words…Slade. Will. Not. Own. This. Town. On. July. Fourth."

"Strong words, Robin," Cyborg nodded. "Better write 'em down for your big speech tomorrow."

"Yeah, and write me in some jokes this time!" Beast Boy smiled.

Starfire giggled.

Raven rolled his eyes.

"Well….as long as we're all there…..," Robin smiled slightly and added, "…the five of us."

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

On a building across the street, safely hidden, Jinx perched.

Water was still dripping from her black and brown suit as she squinted her cat eyes to watch the assemblage of squad cars and emergency crews around the collapsed building.

"You did well…even though you almost faltered."

"I never falter," Jinx mumbled. She smirked slightly. "I only tease…"

"Well then…you did a wonderful job 'teasing', Apprentice. Come back to the frigate. We must prepare for the public appearance of the Titans tomorrow."

Jinx stood up and sauntered towards the far side of the buildingtop she was on. "It's due time fear fought alongside Fate, huh?"

"Something to that extent, yes."

"I have a favor to ask of you, Master."

"Your sisters?"

"That's a given," Jinx smirked. She posed on the far edge of the building top and fingered her sleeves. "But for now, I think I'm going to need a new set of wares."

"Simple. That will be arranged."

"And Master?"

"Yes?"

A beat. Jinx blushed and spoke into the air. "Thank you."

"Our dual strengths as one, Apprentice. Our dual strengths as one."

She sighed, smiled, and blurred down the building side.

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

It was approaching night when I finally dug my way out of the debris. I gasped as I reached the open air. My body—bruised and aching—was covered from black hair to booted toe in soot and dust. Only the last-minute shielding of my murk energy saved me in the collapse of the building.

I groaned and spread myself out—panting—under the stars.

I was really getting tired of stuff falling all around me……

I sat up and hugged myself. The wind was strangely cold that evening. Not the hot jets that had blasted me when I talked to the Messenger the night previous.

The Messenger….

I took off my shades and closed my black eyes. I rubbed them through the eyelids. Sighing.

I tried to follow the Messenger's advice. I let his optimism take hold of me, and I attacked Jinx.

I exhaled and bent down…looking at my ankles miserably.

I attacked Jinx…and still no good had come of it.

I leaned back and stared at the sky.

My shoulders heaved.

What was the use? No matter how much I attacked her, I could not bring her down. She would forever be the apprentice of Slade. His secret hand in the deck. His key towards setting the Titans up at every crime scene. Over and over again until they eventually slipped into his clutches. And it would be any day now. Any second. Any blink of the eye.

"………."

I scrunched my face up.

I thought….

His secret hand in the deck……

I fumbled my hand into my pocket.

I pulled out my stack of cards and thumbed through them until I found the Joker.

I stared at it.

My mind wandered to last night…

"The greatest heroes are the heroes that do their deeds in secret," the Messenger said. "The ones who call the ultimate bluff and know what's truly in their deck."

My naked, black eyes narrowed over the laughing image on the card. The lunacy and downright, unpredictable absurdity of its presence in the deck.

"In the end, Noir. It'll be you who springs the wildcard on Slade. It'll be up to you to take the full circle in your hands and break it."

I looked up at the stars.

They stabbed down at me. A million specks, a million numbers, a million equations.

I was just one soul.

"You'll learn if you haven't already that there is nothing you can possibly do to disrupt Slade's plans. Because Fate is on Slade's side," Jinx said.

My eyes relaxed. I held up the card. Due to parallax, the joker's face blended in with the stabbing specks of the stars. Everything was everything and yet nothing at the same time.

A paradox.

A break….

A break!

"There's no room for a hero anymore, Ghost Boy. Ciao!"

I gasped.

That was it!

That was it!

I knew how to break the circle!

Every time I attacked Jinx…every time I tried to save the Titans…every time I tried to stop the carbonite explosives….every time I did that which was normal and expected and heroic of me, I only added to the completion of the full circle. I flowed forth with the Tao. I manifested Fate as only Fate wanted to be manifested.

"Is life a set of calculations?" the Messenger asked me. "A string of cause and effect integers that work together according to the push and shove of karma? Do you believe that your life is what life makes of it and not what you make of it?"

I clutched the joker card closed in my hand so hard I nearly squished it. I glared past my hand with dark eyes and—for some reason—the stars were no longer blinding.

I took a deep breath. It was a cold and painful breath. It was cold and painful because I finally knew what I had to do, and what I had to do was what I didn't want to do. And it was the only way to avoid going back to a past that I knew but didn't want to know.

I stood up, refreshed, on fire. I looked around me. I began gathering shards of metal debris and bulkhead pieces from the debris of the building that I was standing in.

It was time for my very own Experiment.

Slade wanted a twist to the Balance of Morals.

Well…he sure as Hell was gonna get it.

-T-T-T-T-T-T- 'Dear Diana,

By the time you receive this letter……IF you receive this letter…the JLA will no longer desire to correspond with me. I will have be branded a traitor, and ostracized from the company of the Teen Titans. I regret that such as happened. Alas, you might expect me to fill this letter up with claims concerning my innocence. While I am both willing and able to defend my name, I seriously have neither the time nor the strength to. Instead, I hope to grant you a slight explanation for the things that are about to come to pass…

In the night, I wandered around the mountain of debris. I found a canvass bag amongst the litter, and filled it with all the metal shards and pointy edges and ugly things I could find. Under the cover of darkness—when emergency crews weren't looking, I snuck out and blurred a path eastward with Myrkblade and my new possessions.

I am a hero. Or at least, I once was one. The prime goal of my existence is to further the cause of peace and prosperity in this vulnerable world we live in. I am urged by a deep calling within my being to govern the energies of Construction and Destruction so as to assure the tranquility of innocent civilians. Even now…now as I duck into the backstage of darkness and ambiguity, that is still the motive of my heart. And it is the motive of my future actions. Actions which—I admit—will be dramatic. And may seem harsh. And may make me look worse.

On board Slade's dark ship, Jinx smiled as she tried on her new apprentice outfit in front of a mirror. She twirled about, flailing her limbs girly and grinning. There was not a torn or tatter to be seen on the black and brown suit. She looked up at the reflection of Slade as he walked up with his hands behind his back. She said something cutely. He nodded menacingly…and patted his apprentice on the head. She blushed.

Everything in this City is reaching a boiling point. Things are churning and grinding up against each other in some sort of heated friction of madness. Events and consequences are swinging around and coming Full Circle. Slade—the greatest villain of these parts—believes that this must be show. So much does he believe in this, he has hired a fate-bending apprentice and has teamed up with the overlord of underground crime to make sure the future that he desires comes into fruition. I still do not know what his plans are. Neither do the Titans. They are too wrapped up in the supposed betrayal of my hands to possibly think straight. And, honestly, I do not blame them.

Inside the Tower the next day, the Titans were doing some last minute clean-up of the tunnel that had been bored through to make way for the third missile. The five gathered in the Evidence Room, brushing away the glass…repairing and replacing the displays…and putting back the weapons and props that had been littered all over the place. Every face was solemn and quiet until Beast Boy had the urge to hoist up Fluffy's disembodied, rodent head over his cranium and do a silly dance. The other three couldn't help it. They giggled and laughed merrily. The rest of the cleanup was filled with the occasional chatter, comment, smirk, and snicker.

Wounds are very hard things to repair. Spiritual bodies do not mend as easily as things you and I can touch. From the days the Master taught me about the fragility of the human form…I realized we were nothing but smoke on the inside. Black and thick…yet tangible and as fleeting as the wind. The Titans have gashes ripped so hard into themselves that they're leaking smoke all the time. Slade knew of their unsealed wounds. So when I came in, he used me and my murk as a mirror to which the Titans were to reflect their long-withheld pain. Now I'm nothing more than a second Terra in their eyes. A Third Apprentice.

Inside the dark shadows of a small, claustrophobic room somewhere…I busied myself in sewing together something in the shape of a body. I alternated between that task and the sparking weld of metal to metal. I acquired metal goggles and welded in obsidian shades to fill the oval peepholes. I acquired metal mesh and hammered them to fit around the contours of sleeves, ankles, and joints. I got out brown and black paint spray cans and went to work with a mask over my face. With the welder, I cut and pieced together sharp strips of metal in the shape of an emblazoned 'S'.

I realize—as of today—that I am the Third Apprentice. Not necessarily in title or in body. But in spirit. I am the cause for the Titans' fall. I am the wildcard Slade used to hurt them…to bring them down. Again and again and again. I betrayed the Titans. I did, Diana. But not out of deliverance, but rather out of ignorance. I let my emotions get ahold of me and blind me, much like the Titans did. And because of that…we both suffer. Slade's wildcard did its job.

That evening, workers finished assembling the stage at the Bayside Plaza. The usual courtyard in front of the movie theatre and food stores had been filled with a huge platform with flashing lights, speakers pumping hip hop music, and stacks of television screens showing past images of previous Independence Fireworks shows. Frederick Smith and other officials directed the last of the setup. Crowds of people—young and old alike—gathered joyously to support the continuation of that year's July Fourth celebration…which was merely a few days away.

But the wildcard works both ways. Slade didn't realize that—in alienating me from the love and trust of the Titans—he had given me the greatest advantage ever to break the circle. He thinks that I'm to walk away. He thinks that I'm to head back West to my Past and become the 'Ghost Boy' I once was. That's what he expects. It's probably also what Dagger expects. But—nuts to him—it's not what I'm going to do.

I pulled the outfit over my head. I slipped my hands effortlessly into metal-laced sleeves. My feet slipped into boots which I snapped shut with copper clasps and then clanked the heel down with a resounding echo of steel to make the fit snug. I wrapped the pair of black-lens goggles around my head and over my eyes. I fastened my bandanna—now laced with steel ringlets--around my long, black hair. I then spun Myrkblade and slid it into a rusted, metal-encased scabbard behind my back. I took a deep breath.

I. Know. What. I. Must. Do. I must break the circle. And in breaking the circle—the only way I know how—I will hopefully save my friends. For if there's any painful truth in my life that I've learned, Diana, it's that sometimes the only way you can ever help your friends is by hurting them…

In a shifting shadow, I blurred to a rooftop, leapt over an alleyway to another building, climbed a few feet, and leapt onto a flagpole. From there I perched and glared down through black goggles at the bright flashing lights of the public event down below in the Bayside Plaza. The T-Car was parked behind the stage. The Titans were stepping up, grinning and waving. Cameras flashed and recorded with red flashing lights. People waved and cheered and churned. Frederick Smith clapped and smiled proudly. Blake Glover was even there—covering the event from a journalist's point of view. He was smiling. My black eyes narrowed.

I write this because I want someone to understand. And I do not desire this message to be preached out. I would greatly desire of you to keep it secret, Diana. Keep it a secret that I still love the Titans. They are my friends and I would—and will—gladly die for them. I just can't be goody-goody about it anymore. Not when I must beat down the Hand of Fate. And right now…that is the only way to stop Slade and his allies.

I wish you, the JLA, the Titans, and the whole world everlasting piece.

Sincerely,

-Noir.

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

"Ladies and gentleman!!!" a famous, local celebrity spoke gleefully into the microphone as she stood atop the flashing stage. "Here to promote the Independence Fireworks show!! In the middle of giving their all to save the City from the evil likes of Slade!! Give a welcome hand to Robin and the Teen Titans!!"

People clapped. Cheered. Stomped their feet.

A rock anthem played out as the lights flashed down on the Boy Wonder and the trailing four. They smiled and waved—all except Raven of course—and wandered right in front of the cameras, the lights, the gazes, the souls…

There were well over a thousand, excited citizens in attendance. Crammed inside that small, Bayside Plaza.

"Heroes indeed," Blake Glover muttered to Smith. "There's no way your July Fourth celebration is going down the tubes after this!"

Smith folded his hands together and smiled. "That's exactly what I was hoping…."

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

On a rooftop across the way, Slade landed and perched…silently eyeing the scene.

"I'm here," she spoke, covering one ear with a graceful hand.

"I can hear it…," Slade's voice said. "You must stay out of sight, Jinx. Find away to sabotage the event without getting seen, heard, or even smelled by the people there."

The girl giggled. "Funny you should say that. I spritzed myself with 'Vanilla Sunrise' today!"

"You must be serious, apprentice," Slade's voice said. "There are many camera crews here. The Titans must not know you're the Third Apprentice."

"Don't you worry," she winked into the night air. "I'm exceptional at disappearing. Jinx out." Her cat eyes looked up and scanned the scene. She searched for a precarious scaffold…a bulkhead…a glass window one foot too big--

There!

Jinx eyed the huge light fixture hanging over the stage…and the Titans in turn. She licked her perk lips.

"Cakewalk…"

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

"Greetings, citizens of the City!!" Robin joyfully cried forth into the mike.

Cheers rose. They were deafening.

Raven plugged her ears, her blue eyes squinting.

Cyborg and Starfire happily chuckled.

"Are all feeling happy tonight?!?!"

"YEAH!!!" roared the crowd in response.

"Would you like to feel happy all year round?!"

"YEAH!!"

"Well you can because the Teen Titans are always on the go!!" Robin raised his fists. That generated more cheers. "We will never stop fighting for the safety of your family, your friends, and your future!!"

Applause.

Beast Boy folded his arms. "He surely knows how to work them."

"You admit that?" Cyborg remarked.

"Yeah…well…."

"And speaking of the future…," Robin spoke into the mike. His voice crackled forth through the speakers as the crowd dumbed down to a low murmur to listen. "…how dull it be without our Town's annual July Fourth Celebration?! I assure you, people! The Titans will not let Slade or any of his creeps make us scared!! The Independence Fireworks will go off without a hitch! But only if we all state our determination and vote for its unfolding in the next coming week!! Now what do you say?! Are you scared?!"

"NO!!!"

"Then let's hear it for Frederick Smith and everyone down at his office for putting this thing together!!"

Thunderous applause and cheers.

The rest of the Titans smiled.

It was the perfect pause in though…

Only emotion…

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

Jinx smiled.

"Showtime…."

She stood up, flexed her arms, and aimed both wrists down at the light fixture….

……

And a dark shadow streaked by her.

She blinked her cat eyes wide and looked up.

"Huh???"

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

The Titans bowed as a shadow landed on the light fixture overhead.

Robin was the last to do so. He smiled and leaned his head over.

But as he stood back up…..

SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH—SNAP!!!

"Augh!!" Robin jumped as something flew down and ripped the microphone from his hands.

Starfire gasped.

The other Titans jumped.

CLANK!!

The microphone was embedded into the stage floor by something.

Half of the audience stopped cheering as a hideous, electric whine screeched through the speakers and crackled into oblivion.

Smith's jaw dropped. "Wh-What?!"

Glover watched, wide-eyed.

"The heck was that?!?!" Beast Boy stammered.

The audience was quiet. Fearful.

Robin stepped over. He knelt down. His brow over his eyemask furrowed.

Cameramen and lighting crew people craned their necks around their instruments to see. People watching on television were perplexed…shocked…

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

One of them was Slade.

"Jinx?! What's the matter?! What's going on?!"

"I dunno!!" the girl stammered. She leaned forward over the building side and squinted her eyes with a craned neck. "Something…or someone beat me to the light fixture I was about to collapse!!"

"What are you talking about?! Who is it?!"

"I can't tell from here!" the petite sorceress said.

Sudenly…her pink hair sagged and her cat eyes rounded.

"You've got to be kidding me…."

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

Robin reached his hand down and picked up the object as the four other Titans huddled around him.

"Wh-What is it?" Cyborg stammered.

Robin squinted his eyemask. "It's….a p-playing card…."

Robin held in his hands the skewered microphone. Embedded halfway through its sparking, plastic body was a joker card from a poker deck. Its edges had been somehow laced with a haphazard arrangement of rusted metal, welded together. Frightening.

"What's that on the bottom?" Starfire asked.

Robin turned it around.

"There's writing on it…," Raven remarked.

"What's it say?" Beast Boy crowded in.

Robin's eyemask thinned as he read:

"Did you think you could get rid of me so easily, Titans?! Slade's apprentice has only begun to make your lives a living Hell. Signed…'Wyldecarde'."

"Wyldecarde?!" Cyborg remarked, eyebrow raising.

"Who is that?" Starfire asked.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!

Suddenly, the dark figure blurred down from the light fixture. It spun in the middle of the Titans, tripping all of them and kicking half of them all across the stage in one fatal swoop of murk. Starfire and Beast Boy went flying straight into the t.v. screens, cracking the glass. Raven and Robin fell off the stage and into the sound crew. Cyborg went smashing through a speaker.

SWOOOOOSH!!!

No sooner had the figure struck, it blurred up and landed on a balcony of the bayside plaza. People screamed, shrieked, and scattered away to flee.

"Get him! Get him!!" shouted the director of the lighting crew. Workers swiveled spotlights straight up the balcony till it lit the figure in full.

The Titans shook their heads and looked up.

Starfire gasped.

Beast Boy near had a heart attack.

Raven and Robin's eyes were wide.

Cyborg stood up and breathed: "No…"

Blake Glover took a step forward. When he saw the figure, his heart fell. "My god…"

There I stood—staring into the stabbing spotlight. I held Myrkblade in a threatening pose. My body was adorned in an industrial nightmare of black and brown painted metal. While I glared down at the Titans menacingly through my sleek, black goggles…the spotlight glinted off the unmistakable image of an emblazoned 'S' for 'Slade' engraved on the metallic breastplate of my new outfit.

There was a moment of dreadful silence.

Jinx—across the way—all about lost her footing.

"Noir??" Starfire managed to squeak. "Why are you---"

I suddenly grinned.

She gasped.

SWOOOOSH!! I blurred straight down towards the Titans, let out a silent scream, and swung Myrkblade straight at their prone bodies.