These Black Eyes

by P0ST

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

155. J part 3

155. J part 3

"A date?!?! A cotton-pickin' date!! I swear….Robin and Starfire have been diligent, perfect superheroes for nearly three years of partnership and on the ONE DAY Commissioner Decker and the City needs our resourcefulness the most, they bail out on a date!!!"

Raven looked up from the pages of a book. "You're rambling."

Cyborg grumbled at a side console in his lab, typing away. "I am not rambling! I am not rambling!! I am….I am….," a beat. He paused. His shoulder sagged and he sighed. "I am rambling."

"Mmmmhmm….," Raven flipped a page. She floated cross-legged in a far corner peacefully.

Cyborg pulled a lever and the a glass-encased compartment containing Mumbo Jumbo's shattered rod and Control Freak's remote glowed in a green strobe as computer sensors scanned the device from head to toe.

After a while, the android sighed and said: "Do things feel wyrd to you, Rae?"

"How so…?"

"Like…..," Cyborg pursed his lips and thought for a moment before swiveling about and gesturing: "Robin's been tired and pretty much brain dead since the middle of yesterday. Starfire's been acting somewhat lonesome. Noir's been quie—er, that is to say he's been lonesome too. We've just gone through a tragedy at the Prison and a victory against H.I.V.E. And to top it all off………….A HACKER GOT THROUGH MY COMPUTER FIREWALLS!!!!"

Raven's brow furrowed. "Speak a little louder," she droned. "I don't think all the walls in the Tower heard you."

"I swear…..I'm gonna find this 'J' punk and I'm gonna tear his ass out!!"

"Or her," Raven uttered.

"Or 'it'! Whatever!!"

"Have you forgotten that not only did this mysterious hacker point Robin and I in the right direction towards saving Noir and finding the Academy….," Raven spoke, "….but she or he also spared the Tower's mainframe from any damage whatsoever?"

"Nnnghh….it doesn't help my ego any."

"Since when was that ever a concern of ours?" Raven smirked ever so slightly.

Cyborg looked at her.

She looked at her book.

Cyborg looked at his instruments again. "I get this….sinking feeling about stuff lately. It's like things are messed up and yet…not messed up. It's unsettling."

"You're having premonitions," Raven spoke. "That's a change."

"How about you, Rae?" He smirked slyly. "Tell me….is Robin off his rocker?"

"Why should he be off his rocker…..??"

"He's asking Starfire out. That's like one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Boy Wonder. He should go to Hell and get castrated by seventy virgins….or something like that. Maybe with more brimstones."

"You've always known that Robin has never condemned the possibility of teammates getting close to each other," Raven gestured. "He may be razor-edged at times, but he isn't restricting."

"Yeah…well….we're not talking about any of the other Titans, now," Cyborg replied with a smirk. "Don't you see? It's Robin himself that's the issue!"

"And are you jealous that Starfire's taking him??"

Cyborg's human eye bulged. "Say what??"

"Sorry," Raven exhaled. "Another lousy attempt at a joke."

"Girl, if you can't joke period….don't try scoring any homophobic touchdowns. It just doesn't work."

"Meh."

"Take that with a grain of salt, Rae," Cyborg rubbed the human half of his head. "It was funny what you said. And I'm proud of you for…erm….'trying'….."

"Gee, thanks."

"But I guess I'm just a little…..feeling cheated," Cyborg said. A beat. "A-As in having all of this research dumped on my shoulders, of c-course."

"But of course."

"And I could sure use Robin's detective skills….," Cyborg continued to mumble. "The whole damn City could. And by now he's probably sipping some sort of strawberry sundae with Starfire."

"Yeah."

"Or taking a walk in the park."

"Yeah."

"Or…….Or just……driving around. Being with each other. All alone. Talking."

"Yeah………."

"……………."

"……………"

Silence.

"Ahem," Cyborg shook his head and uttered: "Anyways….no time to complain. This analysis should hopefully provide us some bearing."

"Some bearing on what?"

"Anything that makes these props different from the normal tools the villains actually used when they originally went against us mano y mano."

"Ah. Find the sheep's clothing amongst the rams."

"Uh…..yeah. Sure."

"………you never get any of my innuendoes—"

"Try something a bit more pop culture and less…..smarty."

Raven peered up from her pages. "Do you assume that just because I read all of the time that I am smart?"

He nodded. "Yup."

A beat.

She went back to her book. "Well, you're right."

"Damn straight, cutie."

And somebody smiled.

And somebody tried not to.

And perhaps even someone took notice.

And then---

BZZZZZZZ!!

A rather annoying buzzing sound filled the small interior.

Raven's brow furrowed in some tiny facsimile of a wince. "I believe your experiment is well-cooked."

"Huh??" Cyborg blinked at the chamber of strobing lights…..then at the computer console. "That's funny."

"Only you would know…."

"Hang on a sec….," Cyborg pressed a few buttons.

The experiment came to a quiet stop.

Raven glanced up.

Cyborg stood there, rubbing the human part of his head.

"What's wrong?"

"I dunno….," he muttered. "The computer…..it's telling me something wyrd."

"How wyrd?"

"It's saying that…..th-that this experiment was already conducted!"

"You're not repeating yourself again, are you?"

"Raven, no joke….," Cyborg gestured to the equipment. "If I actually did this operation before, I would know."

"Well your computer seems to know."

"Yeah….and that's bothering me," he rubbed his chin in a very Robin-esque way. "Come to think of it….."

A beat.

"What?" she uttered.

"I need to check out something," Cyborg quickly walked across the room and accessed a separate computer terminal linked to the Tower's network. "Something I almost overlooked earlier."

"If the tests have already been done….," Raven spoke, "….is it a bad thing?"

Cyborg took a deep breath. "It may mean our visiting letter between 'I' and 'K' never really left our Tower's brain…."

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

The sun was setting.

It bled the sky red.

Red to scarlet to amber.

Cascading into the cold waves of the ocean.

In a way, the red beams shimmered off the dancing Bay.

And as they shimmered, they reflected off of the docks and the wharfs and the barges of the seaside.

And they also bounced off of the corners of Robin's eyemask as he stared silently out across the waters.

He leaned with his arms and chest propped on the dock's wooden railing.

He took a deep breath.

The corners of his lips were ever so slightly curved.

"Robin….?"

He slowly turned his head.

Starfire stood beside him. An innocent, patient pose. Her hands clasped together and hanging in front of her. She was dressed in sneakers, jeans, and a light pink sweat jacket with a pouch in the front and a hood hanging out the back. A cold breeze drifted by, slowly forcing her red strands of hair into a dance that burned in the fiery evening light.

"You have been most…….q-quiet since we rode out here…."

"……..," he smiled. The Boy Wonder stood up straight, one arm still rested on the railing. He wore sneakers, black slacks, a white t-shirt, and a large dark green jacket over it. He looked small. He didn't seem to mind. "Does that bother you, Starfire?"

"Does what bother me, Robin?"

"That I've been quiet?"

"…….," her eyes trailed the world for a simple answer to that even simpler question. "I…..have no reason….to dislike your quietness."

"Does it make you worry?"

She bit her lip. "Robin…why do you ask such things?"

Robin glanced out across the waves. "When Raven and I were chasing Noir and Jinx….we talked a lot about 'worry'. I've realized that when I helped found the Titans, the things I planned and expected from this City are far different from what I've become and what my team has become. I wanted to be a fearless, powerful leader. But….I think I've become something else."

"Is it a good thing that you have become, do you think?" Starfire asked.

He chuckled. "Starfire….you tell me."

She blinked. "Oh….um….."

He looked at her.

She blushed somewhat, out of being put on the spot more than anything. She innocently scratched the back of her pretty head as she uttered: "I….uhm…..believe that you are exceptionally talented, authoritative, and—"

"Caring?"

"…..," she blinked. "C-Caring?"

He nodded.

A beat.

She simpered somewhat. "Yes, Robin. You do show…..qualities reflective of a responsible guardian."

He chuckled again.

She pouted. "What??"

"A guardian???"

She folded her arms. "What is so amusing of that?"

"Not amusing. Just……interesting."

She blinked.

He gestured: "I don't want to be a mother hen to my teammates."

"I am afraid I do not understand. You consider yourself to be some sort of earthling poultry of maternal identity?"

"No, Star," he shook his head, smiling. "I mean to say is….as much as I may push all of you and take a lot of responsibility for the Titans' actions….I never wanted to be dominating."

"I see….," she nodded.

He nodded too.

A beat.

"I will confess," Starfire looked out on the waves herself as she spoke into the cold wind: "Sometimes I believe that the Titans and their inherent nature warrant you to be 'dominating'."

"Oh?"

She nodded. "Oftentimes, I am too confused or naïve to effectively take upon a foe. And Cyborg is quick to a bad temper. And Noir is prone to self-sacrifice. And Beast Boy is quite often jocular. And there is—of course—Raven's demonic issue and the developing vigilantism of Tempest…."

"Where do I fit in?" Robin asked.

She smiled pleasantly. "You are the b'nvirak!"

Robin blinked under his eyemask. "B'nvirak, Star?"

She bit her lip. "Erm….a pliable material on my home planet of Tamaran that is exceptionally known for its adhesive qualities in a domestic environment."

"……," Robin snapped. "Glue??"

"Ah yes. Glue is quite similar, indeed."

"You think I'm the glue that holds the Titans together?"

"Is that not a fair analogy?"

"Sometimes I wonder," he said, gazing.

She leaned her head to the side. "You have doubts, Robin?"

"We all have doubts," he shrugged. "I won't deny that I've kept this team whole on many an occasion. But I won't go far as to say I'm the sole reason we're all together now."

She slowly nodded.

"Raven's emotional fortitude has been priceless on multiple occasions," Robin gestured. "Not to mention Cyborg's facilities. Beast Boy's levity." A beat. He looked at her. "And you, Starfire."

"Me??" she half-recoiled.

He nodded slowly. "You're one in a million, Star. The Titans are so lucky to have you."

"But why is that?"

"There's something about you that…..th-that makes the fight against crime worth going on," Robin said. He ran a hand through his black hair. "In you, Starfire, we see something akin to what we're working to defend."

"Justice?"

"Innocence."

She blushed. "That is….a stretched idea."

He chuckled. "Is it really?"

She raised a Tamaranian eyebrow. "Robin….may I be so bold as to say something--?"

"Shoot."

She cleared her throat. "You are……very……….." Her voice lingered.

"Very what, Star?"

"Happy," she sighed. A nervous smile. "Very…..happy."

He shrugged. "Happiness is relative. Would you consider yourself a happy person, Starfire?"

"Indubitably!" she beamed.

He chuckled a bit. Then spoke: "Well…I guess you have an honest opinion. You truly are a happy person, Star. So I'll take your word for it. I am happy."

Her eyes trailed.

A beat.

"Star??"

She bit her lip. "But…..if you are happy….," she gazed at him. "Why were you…..c-crying last night?"

"……………"

"It was the first time I have ever seen you shed tears, Robin," she spoke. "It……concerns me……d-deeply."

"It may be the first time you've ever seen my tears, Star," he gazed off. "But it's not the first time I've ever cried in front of you."

She blinked. "Robin…??"

"'Crying' is….relative. Heh…as lame as that sounds," the Boy Wonder commented. "Not everyone has to shed tears or wail to cry. Sometimes crying is as simple as….as…..a w-way of life."

She gazed at him. Or what she thought was him. His eyemask seemed darker than normal. A testament to shut eyelids on the inside. She almost reached a hand out and rested it on his jacketed shoulder. A Tamaranian impulse. A Tamaranian impulse that she carefully repressed at the last second, jerking her hand back.

He didn't see it. Instead he turned around and smiled at her with that grin of haunting happiness. "Come on, Star," he gestured towards the center of the City beyond the dock sides. "I want to show you something."

She smiled helplessly, "A-Alright, Robin…"

The two wandered quietly towards the parked R-Cycle with its two helmets.

A cold autumn wind flew over from the waters and wracked their bodies.

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

I shivered.

My left arm jerked from the metal to the flesh.

I tried not to show it, but instead I kept my fan of cards straight as I sat at the table with Beast Boy and Tempest. The Main Room settled with a darkening red glow around shoulders.

"Say what you want, dude," Beast Boy planted down a red colored One. "UNO is only fun when you have Starfire sharing a hand with you."

"I didn't say anything!" Tempest remarked. "Uhm….," he planted down a red Seven. "That works, right?"

I simpered.

Beast Boy went on: "I swear. She's like so funny and adorable with: 'Oh, I was not aware that this card game was built upon the faculties of Castellan and numerics!'"

"Heheh…," Tempest raised a fingers. "I will admit….that was really good."

"Darn tootin'," Beast Boy placed down a blue Seven. "Your turn, Noir."

"…..," I looked at the cards. "……" I looked at my hand. "……" I drew one from the deck.

Tempest's turn. "That's pretty weak. Pretty weak luck," he put down a blue Four.

I smiled mockingly at him.

This is a damned kid's game……

"Whatever the case, Starfire should be here," Beast Boy said, fiddling through his cards. "And Robin can do whatever he wants."

"Not approving of their sudden expenditure together?" Tempest asked.

"It's not my part to approve," Beast Boy shrugged. "But it is my place to be depressed."

"What about?"

The changeling put down a yellow Four. "Robin's gone all softy on us! I mean….you don't get it, Tempest. You weren't here since the beginning of everything 'Titan'. Robin doesn't ask girls out. He doesn't even look at girls like most guys do! I'd think the obsessive guy was gay if it wasn't for his ugly fashion statement."

Tempest shrugged. "I dunno. I think everyone's entitled to living life the way they want. With or without romance."

"You don't say…," Beast Boy uttered. He glanced at me. "Your turn again, dude."

"………," I looked at the cards. "………" I looked at mine. "…….." I drew from the deck again with a sigh.

Tempest: "Take me and Tula for example—"

Beast Boy winced. "Dude….w-we won't make you have to go there. Seirously—"

Tempest shook his hand and smiled assuredly. "I can talk about it. Really."

"Alright….."

Tempest thumbed through his cards. "It took me forever to realize that Tula was where I wanted to be and who I wanted to be with. I was so caught up with my own life and saving the Idyllists and all who lived in the Hidden Valley that—quite frankly—I saw intimacy as a deterrent." A beat. He smiled. "But both Atlanteans and superheroes alike must all come to realize one thing."

"What's that, dude?"

"Nobody can save the world," Tempest leaned forward. "Not by him or herself. It just doesn't happen. And in a life where life itself is but a fragment of mortal time, sometimes the most important world to attempt saving is not this giant sphere of air and water that we dance on….but the very world that wraps itself around our brains and organs with flesh and bone. I had gone through so many harrowing situations and near-deaths that I realized that some things are….are too precious to leave untouched. So I gave in. I spent more time with Tula. And….and I loved it. I truly, truly did."

Tempest put down a green Four.

A beat.

"To be honest," the Atlantean went on. "I thought Robin had made that decision long before I ever joined your lovely little team. He and Starfire are quite obviously……"

I glanced up. I mouthed: 'Close?'

Tempest nodded. "Yeah. Close."

"They're best friends," Beast Boy shrugged. He placed down a green Six. "They've always have been. It doesn't mean anything more than it is."

I looked at the cards.

"………"

Dammit.

I pulled from the deck again.

Beast Boy giggled.

"Best friends, huh?" Tempest asked. "I'm a little confused. But I don't recall anything during the Titan application process that underscored 'ignoring blatant companionships among the Tamaranian and Gothamite' as a prerequisite to being a sane crime fighter."

"I'm serious!" Beast Boy gestured. "They're best friends! Nothing more!"

I cleared my throat.

They both looked at me.

I smiled and planted metal fingers on two spots in the center of my forehead like 'eyebrows'.

"Yeah, yeah," Beast Boy rolled his green eyes. "We all know that Starfire could go ga-ga over Robin anyday. That's no secret, man."

Tempest put down a green Two. "Robin's a lucky bird."

"But what bothers me is-----," Beast Boy gave Tempest a double-take. "……………..yeah." A beat. "But what bothers me is that with Robin as the softy, where will I be?"

"Same place where you are now," Tempest smiled. "Four cards while I'm down to two and Noir has….what….eleven by now?"

I groaned.

Tempest chuckled.

Beast Boy put down a green Five. "I mean….I should be the Romeo of the Titans! Not him! Sheez…I've got no chance now! The next thing I'll know, Noir will set up a kissing booth or something."

"For the guys or the girls?"

Don't go there, Captain Nemo.

"Har har," Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Let's look at the bright side. Of Robin and Starfire start doing this from now on….maybe less training sessions?"

"I think regretting training sessions is just a poor excuse these days," Tempest shrugged. "You've been working under Robin's tutelage for—what---two and a half years now? I'd imagine the training is anything but strenuous by now. Poseidon…I don't even mind!"

"Eh….you're all wet," Beast Boy waved. He glanced at me. "Dude….is it your turn or what?"

I shrugged. I was already pulling at the deck. I looked at the card and was graced with an artistically done, naked print of Hawkgirl among red satin sheets.

I did a double-take with contorted black eyes.

Beast Boy jumped. "Er….uhm……there isn't a wyrd card in that deck, is th-there?"

I winced, trying my prude best to not so much as visually register the card in my grasp.

That's your definition of 'wyrd'??

I shakily handed it back to him.

Beast Boy glanced at it and blushed all over. "Ooops….heheh….h-h-how'd that get in there?? Eheheheh…." He slipped it quietly in his pocket.

"Wrong deck?" Tempest asked with eyebrow raised.

"Uh….yeah. Sure. Ahem…..your turn still, Noir."

I was afraid to draw from the deck.

At least it wasn't Diana.

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

"You seem to be fond of….c-cold places today, Robin," Starfire simpered.

Robin smiled at her as they stood side by side. "If it bothers you, Starfire…we can leav—"

"N-No!" she exclaimed. "I am most sincere about seeing what it is you wanted to show me here!"

The two had entered an ice skating rink. They stood in the outer perimeter where there was a snack bar, a set of tables with chairs, and a desk leasing ice skates. Ahead of them a rough gate opened up to the white sheet of ice that was the rink. A few dozen people of all ages and varying proficiency were circling the rink in a counter-clockwise formation. Young couples swiftly swished their way along the perimeter. A few talented ones could do it hand-in-hand. Older individuals skated closer to the center of the rink and showed off subtle spinning acts of talent. An elderly few took their time on the far sides, gripping to the wall's railing as they pulled themselves along. An echoing ambiance of public domain music filtered down from the crackling speakers of the old—but still lively establishment.

"Well….," he scratched the back of his head nervously. "I was a little inaccurate about what I said earlier."

"Hmmm?"

"It's not so much showing you something….as t-teaching you something."

She blinked. She bit her lip. "T-Teach me wh-what exactly, Robin?" she nervously asked.

He looked at her directly….warmly. It felt good in the cold, interior atmosphere. "I promise, Star. It won't be anything embarrassing or damaging to you. Just….trust me."

"Trust you?"

He nodded.

A beat.

She smiled. "O-Okay. I can do that, Robin."

He held a finger up. "Wait here….," and he sauntered off towards the rental desk."

Starfire stood with her hands behind her back. She leaned back and forward nonchalantly. Humming. She glanced out at the rink.

She saw a family of four—two parents and two small children—gently gliding their way across the side of the rink. The father and mother held their children's hands, but the younger of the two kids was being giddy. She tried performing a half-jump of sorts, but instead landed hard on her rear on the ice.

Starfire winced.

The kid started wailing. The mother cooed something, picked the girl up, and guided her to the side of the rink where she solaced the weeping child.

Starfire swallowed and forced a nervous smile.

"Here you go, Star….," Robin came up, handing her something. "Grab them by the laces."

"Huh??" Starfire looked down at what he was handing her. A pair of pink and white ice skates. "Eeep!!"

Robin half-jumped. "Wh-What's wrong?"

"Robin! I cannot…I do not….I am unable to dance with knives upon the ice!" she exclaimed with hands clasped together.

Robin smiled. "I'm going to show you how, Starfire. It really isn't all that difficult."

"Difficulty is something best measured by experience….," she bit her lip. "I am….n-not very experienced."

"So?"

"Tamaran is not a world prone to huge collections of ice. Almost the entire planet is under the Terran definition of a tropical climate and—"

"Think of it as getting to know Terra Firma a bit more," Robin said pleasantly. A beat. "Of course….I won't force you to, Star. I could always return these skates an—"

She clenched her eyes shut, took a breath, and opened them again with a brave face: "N-No, Robin. I….I-I shall endeavor to go through with it."

"'Go through with it'? You make it sound like torture."

"Torture is also something best measured by experience….," she muttered in a sappy voice.

"Heheheheh," he took her gently by the hand. "Come on…."

Numbed by the feel of his fingers, she let herself be dragged to the rink.

Before she knew it—distracted as she was by gazing at the various occupants skating past her with swishing sounds—the Tamaranian girl was sitting on a bench placed in a little inset bordering the ice. Robin somehow already had his blue and black skates on and he was presently kneeling at her legs.

"Here….I'll help you the first time."

"Uhm……," Starfire's green eyes blinked. A beat. She glanced down at Robin. "Huh?"

He was already lacing up one of her two feet up in the ice skates. "You see….I've had practice," he smirked up at her.

She simpered. "S-So you have….," and her gaze fell despondently on the rink again. "So much…..hard whiteness."

Robin fastened her skates tight. "There ya go. Snug as a bug."

"Is it a good thing when I am equipped with insectoid firmness?"

He chuckled, stood up, and gently held her shoulders. "Yeah…..sure, Starfire."

"Robin, I am still somewhat uncertain about—EEP!!"

He hoisted her up by her shoulders and soon the two were drifting…drifting…drifting out onto the white interior expanse.

Starfire's teeth chattered for reasons other than cold. "I….I-I-I think I would gladly appreciate having my feet unbladed now!"

"You're doing great, Star….," Robin smiled with two hands gently on her shoulders as he faced her and drifted backwards. "Just keep your balance like you're doing!"

"My…b-balance?" She glanced down. She saw her feet and suddenly became aware of how her entire weight was being precariously placed on two thin blades across the slippery ice. "Eeek!!" she scrambled in a flurry.

Sw-Sw-Swish!!

Robin reached in and half-hugged her struggling figure. "Easy! Keep your toes pointed outward. I've got you."

"B-B-But!!"

"Pretend you're one with the ice," he said gently. He drifted so that he was on her left side. "See? Relax….it's easy at first. It really is."

"At f-first??"

"Mmmhmmm. Pretend you're the master of your elements. Or mistress…..whatever."

"……………" Starfire took gentle breaths. She stretched her arms out. She drifted forward, forward, and came to a balanced stop. Still. At ease.

"There you go!" Robin pointed. He released himself from Starfire. "Now keep that balance. Get a feel for it."

"………," she simpered with chattering teeth.

Robin effortlessly skated around her. "See? You'll master all elements that Earth has to offer in no time!"

"Not l-like you…," she shuddered. She eyed him in awe. "How are you….so capable of such frigid fanciness??"

"Who? Me?" He smirked. He swished into a triple spin and outward into a glide that ended with a spray just two inches before her. "Gotham gets really cold this time of year. Then later on in November, December, and finally January…..God, it's like an iceberg. I no longer try and wonder why Mr. Freeze and the Penguin both make the City their locations of interest. Heh. Anyway….when I wasn't fighting crime with Batman…I suppose you can say I got my skating fix in."

"You are most proficient at it," Starfire pouted. "I on the other hand—"

"I'm not asking you to become Kristi Yamaguchi overnight," Robin said. "I am merely trying to show you how—" He froze in mid speech. His eyemask fell.

A beat.

Starfire leaned her head to the side. "Robin??"

"………..," He blinked under his mask. "You're floating."

"Huh?" she recoiled. "I am not floating!!"

"Yes you are," he pointed down. "Look."

Starfire's gaze fell.

The blades of her skates were a full inch above the ice. She bit her lip. "S-So I am." She looked up with a nervous smile. "But I am balanced, no?"

"……….," he stared at her.

Starfire moaned "Robin….I am sorry. But I absolutely cannot do this. I cannot do it without flying! It is an instinct of mine to keep myself from falling!"

"Lord knows I'm not asking you to go against your Tamaranian instinct, Star," Robin drifted towards her. "But I assure you. You won't really understand what it means to skate if you don't just let it all go."

"But how??"

"Concentrate on your skates," he pointed. "Let the ice and the position of your legs dictate what is or isn't 'balance'."

"But what if I am to fall—"

"You won't, Star."

"But I will!"

He shook his head. "You won't." He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll be here. I won't let you fall and hurt yourself. I promise."

"………," she took a deep breath. "Allright, Robin. I shall try…."

He smiled. "Good."

She gently….slowly lowered herself the one inch to the ice.

Robin drifted so that his right arm hooked around hers and his left arm was on her left shoulder.

She gasped for one reason or another once she was back 'on the ice'.

And she was still.

"Okay now….with me….," Robin breathed.

Starfire found herself drifting forward. Her body graced against the Boy Wonder's grip. Her legs moving through the guidance of his. Inward and outward the strokes of her skates and…

The two swished forward, slowly along the perimeter. The stale cold air of the huge interior became fluid and soothing as they rushed forward through it. Faces started to drift behind instead of past the two. The rink stretched forward, eternal yet limited all the same.

Cold movement.

Starfire simpered. "We are….skating the ice!"

Robin chuckled. "More or less. But it sure beats standing in place and going nowhere."

Starfire glanced down.

"Don't look down. Not yet."

"Eep!" she looked forward, blushing. "I am sorry!"

"Nothing to be sorry for, Star," Robin said. "Just relax."

"I….I-I think I am relaxed."

"Not thinking of flying, are you?"

"N-No….I will admit that….th-that there are other forms of 'unbridled joy'."

"You don't say…."

"We are not prevailing upon colliding with the wall, a-are we?"

"No, Star. Don't worry."

"Okay….."

"I've got us on a steady path."

She nodded. She stayed in frame with his movement. The two traced the perimeter of the rink for a good few minutes until it no longer seemed quite as cold as it was to begin with, and Robin slowly—without speaking—let go of Starfire's right shoulder, drifted sideways, and simply held her by her left arm with his right hand.

She looked over at him.

He smiled at her assuredly.

She simpered. She looked ahead.

The two continued their drift. A leisurely thing. The ice was smooth and forgiving. A few of the citizens had left since it was nearing suppertime. The rink was emptier, and thus gave the two Titans greater room for mobility.

Starfire let out a breath.

"Are you okay, Star?"

She smiled without looking at him. "I am okay, Robin."

"Do you want to stop?"

"N-No. I am…..enjoying this," she nodded.

A beat.

"Thinking about flying at all?"

She giggled. "No, Robin. I am skating." She glanced at him. "You seem quite insistent that I neglect my powers of flight. Is this what you desired to teach me?"

"In a way….," he slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Oh?" she looked ahead again.

He held onto her left side firmly as they drifted onward.

"Does it feel so hard now that you're actually doing it?"

"No, it does not…..but….."

"But what?"

"You are here. Keeping me steady."

He nodded. "But if you wanted—and I'm just saying—you could practice hard enough and learn to skate on your own, don't you think?"

A beat.

"Yes…," she nodded towards the passing whiteness. "I suppose I could…."

"In theory."

"Yes, in theory."

"Then you could understand how I'm able to spin around and do loops in the ice like you sorta saw me do earlier?" Robin asked.

She giggled. "Indeed. That must have taken practice."

"But practice isn't all it takes for me," Robin said. "For you, Starfire….it may be that simple."

She seemed confused. "I do not understand…."

"What did you have to do to learn to just….stay balanced, Star?"

She blinked. "I had to…..to give up flight."

He nodded. "You had to give up a talent."

A beat.

"For most humans…..we have to find our talents to begin with," Robin spoke. "From what I've learned of nearly every alien species we've made contact with and discovered openly in the last ten years…….well….to put it most honestly, Terrans are inherently weak and powerless in the galaxy. I don't mean to imply that Tamaranians and other races are lacking vulnerabilities or weaknesses. What I mean is that…a single human rarely ever stands a chance in surviving harsh environments or antagonism compared to other sentient beings. At the same time, that doesn't make humans completely worthless. We've learned to accommodate for things in which we are lacking. Through technology….increasing our physique….our athleticism and endurance. We can train and shape ourselves into something strong and formidable. But….I-I guess what I'm trying to say, Star….is that being someone like me….being human……being an Earthling….it is something that….th-that…….."

Starfire interjected quietly: "It takes risk." A beat. She gazed calmly at the ice passing them. Her face was deadpan. "It takes risk and….a-and trying to be something you are not born as."

Robin nodded. "My feet don't have blades built into them. But it doesn't keep me from skating. I love to do it too much. It's something that I'm proud of. It's something that defines me as a human being. And I keep to it…even though I know I can't fly and I can fall on my rear end or maybe break a limb at any time."

Silence.

They swished on a bit.

They glided.

A breath….

"My life, Starfire….," he spoke. "'Robin'. The Titan Leader and the Boy Wonder from Gotham." A beat. He said: "It's not something I was born to be. I'm not built to fly from rooftop to rooftop. I wasn't made to take on hulking monsters of granite and slime, armed only with throwing discs and a metal staff. But that doesn't stop me from doing it anyways. Because if I didn't do it….I wouldn't be what I am today. I wouldn't have met such great partners. And I wouldn't have saved so many people as I have. In some ways, Star---as self indulgent as it sounds to say---I may very well have all that you've ever wanted to learn about Terrans all thrown together in my head. But I don't know how better to show it to you…than by teaching you myself."

Silence.

Starfire said: "I…..I-I understand now…." Her voice was a murmur. Her green eyes blinked. "I….I-I believe I do understand. It must be so hard…and yet so beautifully endearing for Terrans like you to take such risks and become heroes amidst your society…."

Robin slowly nodded.

A beat.

Starfire glanced at him while they skated. "I now have an inkling as to realizing why it is you defend your dangerous stunts so much."

"Yeah….well….," Robin simpered. "To each his own."

Starfire smiled. "You……never tried so hard before to make this message clear to me." She glanced down at their skating feet then back up at him. "Why is that?"

"People tend to forget things, Star….," Robin said. He glanced across the rink as they went on. "Myself especially. But there comes a time when….when you just wake up. You remember how everything got started. And you start to wonder how everything continued to where it is now."

"………..," she gazed blankly at him.

He smiled at her, sighed, and said: "Before you work up a sweat….h-how about something to eat?"

She simpered. "That…..th-that sounds glorious, Robin."

He nodded. He guided the two of them back to the side of the rink.

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

"Rrrrgh!!"

THWAP!!

Cyborg's fist hit the desktop.

"This just doesn't make sense!!"

"Easy there…," Raven placed a hand over his shoulder, leaned over, and peered at the computer screen. "What is it saying now?"

"I can tell you what it's half-saying!!" Cyborg spat and gestured frustratingly at the console. "It's giving slight, subtle hints that the Tower's experiment programs were accessed…but it won't let me check and see who accessed them and for what reason!!"

"Why don't we ask everyone in the Tower if they've been playing with your laboratory?" she droned.

"Nuh uh! It was this 'J' guy!! I know it!" Cyborg grumbled. "'Benevolent Hacker' my titanium ass!! You've read about one of them, you've read about them all!"

"Calm down," Raven groaned. "Now….just what is blocking you from accessing the experiment programs anyways?"

"It's telling me that Robin's Authorization Code is keeping me from patching through!" Cyborg said. "That's completely bogus!! Why would Robin want me to stay out of the programs that I built?!?!"

Raven folded her arms. "And what's to say it isn't really Robin's Authorization Code?"

Cyborg blinked. He swiveled and looked up at her. "Say what??? Rae, are you serious?? Robin wouldn't—"

"Let's pretend for a moment that he would," Raven glanced at Cyborg. "What would you require to get past it?"

"Well….unless I was a badass hacker--," he paused to roll his eyes, "—I'd truck Robin over here and have him unlock it for me. To tell the truth, I'm almost hurt that Robin gets number one priority to digital confidence. This isn't his computer system—so why should the entire Tower's security revolved around his access code."

"You're right about one thing," Raven nodded. "This is your computer station."

"Darn tootin'."

"But on the other hand….," she leaned over him. Her fingers gracefully performed a keystroke.

And---

Beeep!

The computer speakers chimed prettily as the program Cyborg was trying to access was brought up.

Cyborg's jaw dropped. He swiveled to her. "How…..H-How….."

She gestured: "Robin wasn't the only person to found the Titans…….not technically."

"…………………," Cyborg smirked. "Looks like I got a friend in high places."

"Yessir."

"But you don't even exercise your authority, if you're 'up there' with Robin!" Cyborg pointed. "I was Number One after him, remember?"

"Yes, Cyborg," she rolled her eyes. "I remember….."

He rubbed the human part of his head. "Damn…if even I can't get that far into the Computer….what can Noir do now that he's Number Two? Windows Solitaire?"

"Somehow, I think he'd enjoy that."

"Yeah……," Cyborg shook his head and snapped out of it. "Allright then, thanks Raven."

"Don't thank me. I'm curious too."

"Good," Cyborg typed his way deeper and deeper into the program files. "Now to find out exactly what was done and when."

"And by whom?"

"I think we both know that," Cyborg smirked.

A beat.

"No….I don't think we do," Raven said.

Cyborg faltered somewhat at that.

But the investigation went on.

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

"Okay. That's two hotdogs. One with everything on it. The other with extra mustard. Will that be all, sir?"

Robin stood at the snack bar with the tray and two hotdogs in paper carriers. "Actually…can I have some mustard packets?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Titan," the clerk ducked down, rummaged through the trays behind the counter, and produced a handful of mustard. "There you go."

Robin smiled politely. "More, please."

The clerk blinked. "Uh….s-sure thing." He ducked down. He came back up with another handful. "Have a pleasant me—"

"A little bit more."

"……..," slowly….apprehensively the clerk bent down. He came up with two handfuls and pensively placed them in the growing pile of packets on the corner of the tray.

Robin smiled. "That should do. Thanks."

"Y-You're welcome…."

Robin turned around and drifted across the carpet to the table where Starfire sat.

"Eeee! Glorious!" she clasped her hands together and smiled. "You remembered!!"

"Yeah," Robin nodded. "How many times have you made us watch that hot dog documentary? I'm surprised I'm not going to vomit from—"

"Negative!" Starfire dipped her hands into the pile of yellow packets and rubbed them lovingly against her cheeks. "Sweet, delicious nectar!! You remembered my infatuationnnn!!"

Robin sweatdropped. "Uh……yeah. I have a photographic memory."

"Heee!" RIIIP!! Starfire opened packet after packet of mustard and obscenely dumped them across her hot dog. "This will be a most heavenly meal!"

"Glad you plan on enjoying it," Robin pointed. A beat. "Or already enjoying it."

RIIIP!! She opened more packets and glanced at Robin. "You usually do not eat at this time of the day. Are you choosing to be less fastidious?"

"I only skip supper because of how unnecessary it is," Robin said. He took a bite out of one end of his hot dog, chewed, swallowed, and added: "Breakfast is the one important meal of the day. If eaten well, it prepares the body for a long, full day of exercise and strenuous crime fighting. But….for now…..I can settle for a little spoiling. Besides…." his eyemask thinned amiably. "This is a special occasion."

In the midst of her mustard mountaining, Starfire blushing. "It is?? For what reason?"

"Not for 'what'. For 'who'."

"Ohhhh," she hid her face behind her hand. "Why do you fluster me so?"

He chuckled. "It is a little…..fun."

"Does that explain all the times you have done it prior to now?" Starfire leaned forward.

"………," Robin stared at her. "Huh?"

"Oh….uhm….eep!" she blushed. "I….I suppose I am my own worst enemy."

"You think I've been trying to fluster you all of these months, Star?" Robin leaned his head to the side. "By doing what?"

"Oh….X'Hal….this mustard is most inviting…," Starfire changed the subject to the food she was blushingly eyeing before her. "….lest I forget the heated canine submerged in the nectar as well." CHOMP!!! She took a big wet bite. Mustard bits flew across the room like fireworks.

"…….," Robin leaned forward. "It doesn't take a detective to know that you're changing the subject."

"Mmmmhmmmm!" she half-ignored him with a mouthful.

Robin chuckled. "Honestly, Starfire…..sometimes you are too cute."

She swallowed. "Yes, Robin. And sometimes you are too……tough."

Robin froze at that. A bit puzzled.

Starfire winced. "Oh….I-I am sorry, Robin. That did not come out in the desire that I meant it to. I was….t-trying to speak 'honestly' as you were."

"Then you admit that you're cute?" Robin simpered. "I can admit that I'm tough."

Starfire nodded. "We are…stigmas to the end, are we not?"

"It depends," Robin took a bite, swallowed, and said: "Even if we were stigmas…is that what we most desire?"

"I have been and shall always be Koriand'r," Starfire pleasantly said. "'Starfire' suits me in my attempt to gradually merge myself with my own identity here on earth. I must say, it is quite the arduous process. But it is not without its gradual success." She suddenly beamed. "Did Beast Boy tell you?? Just the other day he helped me practice your challenging contractions!! Ahem…." She put on a face of honest, exaggerated concentration and twisted her lips: "'Dick duzunt care if Jane izint going to tell him what Spot wouldint do….'"

The Boy Wonder suddenly suffered a wave of startling convulsions.

Starfire dropped her sloppy hot dog, gasped, and made half an attempt to fly across the small table. "Robin!! What in X'Hal's name is wrong—?!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" he hugged himself and bent over in his chair. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!"

"……………….," Starfire blinked. She folded her arms and pouted. "Hrumph! I was sincerely trying my best to learn them!"

Robin waved. "I know, Starfire---hahaha---I know just…..don't stress yourself. You're---hahaha---good as you are."

She stared at him.

He still chuckled, his eyemask thinned.

She exhaled gently. "Robin??"

"Hahahaha….ahem….," he sat up straight. "Y-Yes, Star?"

"Will you tell me who you really are someday?"

"………….," his smile faded. He breathed deeply, staring at her. "Who…..Wh-Who I really am?"

She stared at him. Deadpan. Almost sad. "The boy who is sitting before me. Not the superhero. Not the Titan Leader. But the daring human beneath the mask. The one who has…has found so many talents to make him into what my eyes see. And yet—in spite of all of those talents—he is still human beneath it all. And still vulnerable…far more vulnerable than extraterrestrials, as he himself has just confessed to me tonight. Who are you, Robin? Will I someday find out who….who I have fought by, smiled with, and cried for? Will I be able to call th-the best friend that I've ever had by his first name?"

"……………………………..……………." Robin was mute.

Starfire's eyes closed and she hung her head towards her half eaten meal. "I…..I did not expect you to respond to any of that with more than absolute silence. F-Forgive me for springing such a question upon you as I just did, Robin. I…..I suppose seeing you last night…..seeing you most willing to….to be reached…." She gazed up at him. Sad green eyes. "I had hope." A beat. "A s-selfish hope," she winced at her own words and could no longer bear to look at him. She gazed off across the tables and towards the rink in the distance. "For nearly three years now….I-I've wanted to ask that. Just to see what the reaction would be. And it has been what I predicted. But do not despair, Robin. I am not mad at you. You are my friend regardless of what your identity is. I have always respected that secrecy of yours….and I shall continue to do so. It is the least I can do for someone as talented and wise as you, much less the leader of my team—"

"Starfire….," Robin gestured. He sighed and shook his head. "Don't. Please. I don't deserve….that is to say, I don't need….."

He fumbled for words.

Silence.

"It is allright, Robin," Starfire smiled weakly. But her eyes still had her lively shimmer. "At least….maybe it will benefit you to know where I stand. Or float…hehehe."

"…………," he stared thoughtfully at her.

She leaned back in her chair and clasped her hands together. "You say that you have woken up from a terrible dream turned good, Robin. Correct?"

He scratched his neck. "Y-Yes, Star…."

"I too have had a deeply affecting dream," she said. "And just like you….I shared it with Noir and no one else."

He raised an eyebrow over his eyemask.

"Until now," she giggled. "Hehehehe." A beat. She took a breath: "Months ago, I was nightly assaulted with a vision in my sleep that I could not bear to experience. A few times I lacked sleep because of it and I suffered fatigue during our early excursions in training Noir. Do you remember that, Robin?"

"Yeah, Star. Somewhat."

She continued: "Every night I dreamt that I was wandering a wasteland. A barren plain that did not resemble Earth or Tamaran. Despite the unfamiliarity of the inhospitable location, I needed to be there. And I was there to find someone. Someone I knew."

Robin leaned his head to the side and listened quietly as Starfire went on.

"I am sure that you can predict the person I was looking for to be you, Robin," Starfire said. "I was very concerned about you at the time. In my dream, you were stuck inside a frozen lake. You were hugging yourself and hiding your face. And you were crying." She gestured. "Although the lake was icy in and of itself, it paradoxically boiled at the surface. I interpreted it as the flaring temper of your fighting persona when in battle. And I tried to understand what the ice meant…until I finally saw your face and your eyes were covered with the green tears of a Tamaranian that ironically disguised you even without a mask. And then I realized that…..whether it is true or not….I only imagine a life of pain and sorrow underneath that mask you wear. It is something you hide not to deceive your friends around you….but perhaps to protect yourself. And such is perfectly understandable. And on my planet—as much as on Earth—such an action is something hardly deserving ridicule, I firmly believe. Yet still….I worried greatly about you, Robin. I truly did. When….hehe…wh-when I told Noir about my troubling visions, he showed me for the first time what his eyes looked like with the shades off. I believe Beast Boy was the last of us to see his eyes in their true glory. Noir was very private when he first joined us. In a lot of ways he still is. But it was then that I realized how much he understood what his new partners felt and anguished over. And without speaking, Noir told me that I need not worry about who you really are, Robin. For someday—no matter what dangers we might face—I may even find out about the boy who is sitting before me. But….I will admit….as I already have….such a selfish desire. And I take great pleasure in knowing 'Robin' so much that….th-that I cannot truly sum it up in simplistic fashion."

A beat.

Robin smiled weakly.

He ran a hand through his hair: "I…uhm…..I don't know what to say, Starfire."

"It is all right…," she smiled then took a bite out of her mustard-dog. Swallowing: "The fact that you listen is enough to console me."

He winced at hearing that. But he said: "I….I wouldn't honestly know about 'hiding sadness and pain'. I think that's all relative."

She looked at him silently.

He turned his head to the side. "I think….I think my secret identity is not so much to protect myself," he said. A beat. "But to protect you, Starfire."

She blinked. "M-Me, Robin?"

"………," he slowly nodded.

"I….I-I respect that, Robin. I truly do," she said. But she shuddered: "I just….d-do not understand it."

Silence.

Robin took a deep breath, and warmly said: "Say, Star."

"Yes, Robin?"

"After we eat….would you like to go out on a walk?"

"I….I-I would love to."

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

I washed my hands in the sink until I realized I was doing it for the fourth time in a row.

I shook my head.

I blinked my naked black eyes and looked around.

I was in my lantern-lit bathroom…adjacent to my small and dark quarters.

Why does my mind keep wandering??

I sighed. I cupped cold water in my hands. I splashed them across my face. I closed my eyes and streamed my bangs back, slicking some of my black strands of hair.

I sighed.

I shut the water off and leaned over the sink with two tired hands.

I must not have gotten any rest yet.

From the adventure at Bludhaven……

"……….."

I looked up.

Two black eyes stared at me.

Dark and noir.

"………."

How could I have not figured it out beforehand?

I stared at the corners of my solid optics.

'J'.

The hacker that Pulsade and Jinx were talking about.

It was that kid………

I leaned back and folded my arms.

I sighed…staring at the dark figure in the mirror.

Was that him at the Public Address?

Why is he in Town?

Why all the e-mails?

Does he know the Messenger?

I ran a hand over my face.

I shut my eyes.

Darkness…..

Could what he want now………have anything to do with what he wanted then?

"……….."

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

SMASH!!!

"Get 'em out of there!!"

"Light the bottles!!"

"We're gonna burn this place to shit!!"

A crowd of eight men armed with knives and bats yanked a family out from their business establishment. Under the shroud of night and in a doubly dark underneath an L-Train track, the thugs threw bricks and other rough objects through the front windows of the store, shattering the display to bits. Two other men started lighting Molotov cocktails.

"No! Please!!" the owner struggled and gestured towards the store. "That's our life!! Don't burn it down! I-I'll do anything!"

"Shut up, you old bastard!" a man wandered over and punched the owner hard in the gut. WHUMP!!!

"Nnngh!!"

"Richard!!!" the wife shrieked.

The two children were sobbing.

"Shut the hell up!!" one man shouted. He pointed at the two with the Molotovs. "Light the shithole!!" He faced the family again. "You may be the first……but you may not be the last. We're gonna track down every creep in this City who lives in the Norman Apartments and teach him a lesson!!"

"Why……," the owner doubled over and wheezed: "……are you d-doing this??"

"We all know very well that you Norman chumps are too high and mighty for the rest of the street now!! Even Slade's goons won't go anywhere near the apartment themselves on account of some blasted 'black eyes' and crap!! You know what that means for the rest of us?? Slade is all the more ruthless!! Well if he doesn't roast your hides, then WE will!! BURN THE DAMN PLACE DOWN!!!"

"Consider it done…," one of the two men with flaming bottles approached the storefront. He raised the jar to the side and prepared to swing it through the window. "……pawn this, you sons of bitches!!"

"No! Don't!!"

"Shut up!!!"

"THROW IT!!"

FLASH!!!

In a puff of black haze, a figure materialized beside the flame-throwing creep. Something solid black and flickering spun upwards in half an arc and ripped through the Molotov cocktail.

CRACK!!!

FWOOOSH!! Flames fountained outward in a tongue of red and orange. The thrower's jacket caught fire.

"AAAAUGH!!!" he flailed about for two seconds before desperately pulling his jacket off of him and tossing its smoldering remains into the sidewalk.

"……………," the seven other men watched numbly………dumbly.

"The Hell??"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?!" the man clutched his burnt arm and wheezed.

SWOOOOSH!!!

A shadow burst through the flames and slammed a long slender object into his side. WHACK!!

"Augh!!" he tumbled hard to the concrete.

The thugs gasped. They held their knives and bats out in paranoid readiness.

But or what?

The shadow was gone.

"A………A-A ghost??"

"Shhh! It may still be here!!"

The family huddled together, their eyes wide as they too looked around the shadowed corners of the flame-lit street for the mysterious figure.

The one other man with a Molotov cocktail blinked. He looked over his shoulder. Nothing. He turned and looked forw--

WHAM!!!!

A foot slammed into his face.

"NNGH!!" he fell back.

The lit bottle fell on the ground. CLANK!! It rolled across the street and exploded. FWOOOOOSH!!!

The six other thugs and the family members shaded their eyes as a curtain of fire stretched from sidewalk to sidewalk. The bottom of the L-Train tracks above them shimmered in rusted glory. Smoke billowed up towards the building sides stretching high towards the skyline.

"Craig!!" one thug shouted through the flames to the fallen man. "Craig?!?! You there?!?!"

Everyone froze at the voice emanating from the other side of the fire and smoke.

"Augh!! God!! Stop it! Don't—"WHACK!!"—AUGH!!" A groan. Then.

Silence.

"………………"

Suddenly, the flames parted ways.

"C-Craig??"

The family members stared, hugging each other.

The billowing smoke slithered down the 'slope' in the wall of flames and collected together in the figure of a swordsman walking towards them. The smoke materialized, as marked by the glinting shades on the long-haired stranger's face.

Teeth glared.

"It's……It's some sort of freak!!"

"A Titan?!?!"

"Like shit it is!!" the leader of the thugs went charging with a bat. "It's the black eyes from the Norman Apartments! GET HIM!!"

"RAAAAUGH!!" they all charged.

I stood still. My left fist clenched. My right hand gripping Myrkblade's hilt tightly. My legs spread.

The leader came charging with his bat.

Two others followed him with knives.

Two more with bats.

One stood by the family with a machete.

FW-FW-FW-FW-FWISH!!! I twirled Myrkblade into a pose behind my head. I stretched my left arm out towards them. I narrowed my eyes. My left fist clenched. A wave of smoke coursed through my shoulders and out my right limb to flicker off the blade of my sword like a freshly lit match of obsidian.

"RGHHHHH!!!"

The five charging figures converged on me at once.

Ten eyes.

Two black lenses.

Black eyes.

I took a breath.

SWIIISH-CHIIIIING!!!

I swung Myrkblade down. It ate into the pavement. Sparks flew.

SWOOOOOOOSH!!

Myrkblade spiraled upward into a massive uppercut and so did my body.

A wave of smoke flew up from the ground, catching the feet of the thug leader and two creeps by his side.

"Augh!!"

"Whoah!!"

"Nngh!!"

The last two men came to a stop and gasped, looking up.

In slow motion and reflecting the surrounding tongues of flame, I and the three miscreant bodies flew up high into the air like some sort of twisted, urban ballet. My body spun in mid air with Myrkblade acting as a tornadic fan that lifted us higher, higher, and higher towards the bottom of the L-Train tracks. I let loose a miniature pulse of smoke and propelled myself towards one of the flailing bodies. I ended my spinning with a foot slamming across his face. WHAM!!! The impact jostled me to the right, upon which my legs made contact with the thug leader's chest GRIP!!! I wrapped my legs around his waist, spiraled us upside down, grabbed the bat from his hand, and twisted my legs so that I shot him hard into the rusted ceiling of the train tracks above. WHANG!!! I flipped, descended, and flung the bat blindly outward so that it flew so hard across the back of the third airborne thug it shattered into splinters. CRACK!!!

In a blink……

Time resumed.

SWOOOOSH!!! PLOP!!! I landed crouching in the center of the street.

"………………………"

WHUMP!!! THWAP!!! WHAM!!!!

The ragdoll bodies of the three creeps landed hard on the pavement in a halo around me.

"Nnnngh……," they groaned in pain and were out like a light.

The two other chargers gasped and stumbled back, the bats in their hands shaking.

"………………," slowly……menacingly……I stood up. Myrkblade flickered. I tilted my head up. I glared at them. Smoke danced out from under my shades.

"Jesus………he's a demon!"

Maybe……

FWOOOOSH!!!

I blurred at them.

"RAAUGH!" one swung his bat.

I slid under and past him.

The other rammed his bat into the ground.

I vaulted upward.

SMACK!!! The bat cracked as it hit pure pavement.

I flipped over them, landed behind a man's back, and gripped his neck in a reverse strangle-hold with my left arm.

"Snkkkk!!" he struggled.

The other man shouted and swung his bat at me.

With one hand I swung Myrkblade up and blocked. CLACK!!! My blade made contact with his bat. I charged smoke into the blade and pulsed it outward.

CRACK!!

The bat shattered completely.

The man backed up across the street, gasping.

I gritted my teeth, bent over, and swung the choking man over my shoulders by his neck.

"Whoah!!"

WHUMP!!!

Both men collapsed together and rolled to a cold stop besides the sidewalk.

I spun around.

The machete-wielding man stood alone besides the family. Trembling. He stepped backwards. He stammered: "L-Look! I never meant to hurt them!! It's Slade, okay?!?! He's putting the pressure on us to bust heads in where he can't go!! Seriously!! I don't want to do anything!!"

"……………," I marched towards him.

"Stand back!!" he pointed at the family with his blade and snarled. "Don't make me d-do something neither of us want!! We can strike a deal! Come on! L-Let's talk!!"

I frowned.

I……don't……talk……

FWOOOOSH!!!!!

I rocketed towards him in a burst of smoke.

He barely had the time to gasp--

FLASH!!!!!

I materialized below and past him in a crouch.

The sheer speed of my teleport sent his body flying high up into the air.

"AAAAAAAH!!"

I stood up straight.

He fell.

"AAAAAH!!!"

SWIIISH!! I stuck Myrkblade directly up like a ship's mast.

SLIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!

The black blade got caught between the flesh of his back and the material of his shirt.

For half a second, he hung above me like a flag.

Then……

I gritted my teeth, grabbed the hilt with two blades, and heaved the sword into the earth like a collapsing redwood.

WHAM!!!!!!

The man slammed into the pavement chest-first. I didn't bother counting the teeth he lost.

"Nnnnngh………," he wheezed and was out.

His machete finally dropped from his head. Cl-Clank!!

The family blinked.

Riiiiip!! I shredded his shirt as I pulled Myrkblade up. FW-FWISH!! I twirled it behind my back. CHIIING!! It was sheathed.

I took a deep breath. The flames were starting to die down. The bodies of the eight thugs lay unconscious all around the street.

Slowly, the family stood up on shaking knees.

"………………" They stared at me.

I stared back. "…………………" I smiled.

And so did they, holding each other. The mothered mouthed: 'Thank you'.

I gently bowed my upper body.

And that's when I noticed it. A head. A blonde head.

"???" I turned and glanced at a nearby alleyway.

I barely spotted the sight of a petite boy with golden hair dashing out of view.

"…………," my eyes narrowed.

I heard the sounds of police and firetruck sirens.

I glanced across the scene, made sure the crooks were out cold, and then spun around.

FWOOOSH!!!

I cloaked myself with a shroud of smoke and ran down towards the alleyway.

The family hugged each other and waited until the emergency vehicles arrived.

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

I blurred up the edge of the building, jumped up off the wall, flipped, and landed in a crouch on the corner ledge.

I exhaled.

With the night's wind whipping at my hair, I gazed down at the alleyways and streets beneath me.

My black eyes narrowed behind my shades.

The distinct body of a small blonde kid ran through the streets of the City. He was heading Southwest.

"…………………," I watched silently.

If he's so intent on spying on me……maybe I should spy on him……

I got up and ran across the roof. My black feet blurred and soon I was hopping from rooftop to rooftop across the City.

Keeping up with him……

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

The boy ran across empty, abandoned streets until he came to and entered a doubly-abandoned building. The structure was seven stories high, boarded up, and hardly the hospitable locale you would imagine anyone—especially someone as clean cut as the boy—possibly living in.

From atop a rusted construction crane atop the way, I stared at the site.

I blinked.

How can he even expect to be safe in streets like these?

I sighed. I smoked my lower limbs and blurred down the building front. I ran across the street and—taking my time and pace slowly—I crept in through the front entrance of the abandoned building.

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

The wooden steps of the stairwell creaked pathetically with my ascent.

I winced.

So much for being stealthy……

The further I went up the building, I became aware of something haunting. And in an abandoned apartment building, there are many things that one might call 'haunting'. But the sound of a piano?

"…………"

A lovely, soft tune was wafting down the stairwell towards me. Something angelically muffled through the floors. It was almost drawing to me. I pushed against it and walked towards it at the same time.

I was only half-surprised to come up to a floor where there was light. It was the sixth floor, and the glow grabbed my interest. I walked into a long, gray hallway littered with scraps of paper from bygone eras of residency. I paused at a doorframe where the light danced through.

"……………"

I slowly stepped into the room. Orange candle light danced and flickered across the walls. The room looked as if all of the paper and dust debris had been swept away and into the hallway. And there was the broom besides a half-open closet to prove it. My black eyes scanned the room……winced from the flickering candle light on an old wooden table across the way……and then settled on a 'cute' little corner. A cute little corner adorned with a small-sized cot, a cooler with foodstuffs in it, a backpack, and a laptop.

Yes, a laptop. Two laptops. Two laptops and what looked to be a functioning, electrified television.

"…………"

I walked over slowly. I gazed down at the screens of the three units.

One laptop had a modem connected to it, but was displaying a DOS prompt of green-on-black letters across it screen. It had garbled text scrolling down a pixel per second. I could easily read the mysterious program narrating itself:

Loading…

Loading…

Loading…

Reinforcing Program "River Jordan"

Location: Northeast City District

Date: April 11, 2004

Time: 0211 hours

Utilities: Cameras B-1, B-2, B-3, B-4 alternating with Cameras C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4 alternating with Thermal Scanner

Equipment: Minimal Failures in C Cameras

Maintenance Systems: Optimal

System Calibration: 98 Complete

Loading…

Loading…

Loading…

Initializing Concurrent-Program "Milk and Honey"

Location: Titan's Tower

Date: April 11, 2004

Time: 0211 hours

Utilities: Long range infrared scanner

Equipment: Functioning Efficiently

Processing…

Processing…

Processing…

Examining Program "Canaanite"

Confirmed Sightings: Negative

Present State Of Functionality: 80 Efficient

Next Examination: T-Minus 59 minutes.

"…………"

Hmmm……

I looked at the TV. screen.

The image was split into four squares, each of which was alternating between two different views of the City's Eastern District. I recognized the black and white live feeds. They were streets and avenues familiar to me.

Ones that I often frequented……

I inhaled.

I glanced at the last laptop.

My eyes squinted.

There was an elaborate, brightly-lit map layout of the City. There were small, strobing lights around……

I blinked.

Titan's Tower??

And one light that blinked on a block where I knew—from the back of my brain—I was located.

My fist clenched.

"………"

But I relaxed it.

I sighed.

Silly kid.

A beat.

Silly smart kid……

The piano music continued.

I tilted my head up.

The next floor……

I glanced across the candle-lit room.

There was a hallway with a tiny stairwell that led up. The apartment I was in must have consisted of my floor and the one above.

He's here……

I made a step to leave, but froze at the sight of something beneath me. Some things, that is.

I glanced down.

There were……newspaper clippings, magazine articles, computer printouts, Internet headlines………

All about one thing……one person……

Slade……

Photos……quotes……details of bombings and terrorist runs.

Images of burnt buildings. Charred bodies. Assassination photos.

Articles with headlines ranging from the Titans' fight against Slade to Slade's two major defeats to the story of the City's temporary domination by Slade months ago.

I took a deep breath.

I looked back to the stairwell. I approached it slowly.

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

The music increased as I came closer and closer to the source of the music.

I ascended the stairs and stood on solid floor.

Staring.

Across from me, eerily alone in the corners of the barren room, rested a grand piano. 'J' was at the reins.

His fingers danced gracefully over the piano keys.

Chords formed a weepingly-soft rhythm from the shadows.

The piano as old…but its strength and size spoke of something archaically majestic. It shone beneath the layer of dust and soot in the corner of the decrepit room.

He was dwarfed by the instrument. And yet his fingers were patient as they sought out all corners of the playing field.

The tune rested, faltered, and gently died in a beautiful fashion.

And when it was over, he leaned back, exhaled, and hugged his small self.

Alone…

A beat.

I craned my neck.

'J' lowered his arms. He took a breath.

Without so much as looking at me, he gestured into the air:

'Why do you do it?'

I blinked.

He turned and looked up at me patiently.

I took a breath. I hand-signed back:

'What do you mean?'

He blinked. His green eyes small, but warm. He again gestured: 'Saving people. Beating up bad guys. If you are not a person of peace, then why do you do it?'

I groaned inwardly. Trying to put a hold on my patience, I gently returned: 'You think I am a superhero? Or that I should be one?'

A beat.

He smiled. He slowly nodded his blonde head.

I gestured: 'But that is a common error. Saving people and beating up bad guys does not make me a superhero.'

He leaned his head to the side.

I went on: 'People like the Titans……,' I paused a bit. I continued: '……they are hypocrites. It is stupid to think that by beating up people you are enforcing peace. There is no such thing as peace, but instead favor. And fate favors people differently. Yes, it is possible to change the ways of fate so that more deserving people can be favored instead of others. But how can you call it peace when innocent people enjoy the fruits of life while so called goons and creeps have to get their faces smashed in?'

He surprised me with how fast he replied: 'Do you think you are evil, Noir?'

I doubled-back. I blinked. If I was talking, I would be tongue-tied. I awkwardly hand-signed: 'I did not say that I was evil.'

He giggled breathily and hand-signed: 'I know. But you think it, right?'

I glared at him. 'I did not come here for psychoanalysis.'

'Then what did you come here for?'

"………………"

He swiveled his small legs off the chair, dropped down, and walked towards me.

I blinked. 'You are small for your age, you know that?'

He stood before me, looked up, and hand-signed: 'What are you doing in this City? What future do you want, mister black eyes? Will you keep saving people by yourself until you are old and gray?'

I frowned. 'You tell me what you are doing here. You are wise beyond your years, kid. I saw the laptops and the camera screens. You are some kind of technician or hacker, are you not?'

He smiled proudly.

'I should have known.' I sighed. 'What do you want to blackmail me for.'

He replied: 'I do not do blackmail.'

'Then what do you do?'

'It is not what I do but what I want to do.'

'And that is?'

He hugged himself and looked aside.

I stared at him.

A beat.

He bit his lip, looked up at me and signed: 'I want to put a stop to something.'

I blinked. 'Not something……,' I hand-signed. 'Someone. Slade.'

His green eyes fell from my hands when I conveyed that. He turned around and looked off towards the shadows.

I fidgeted. This was starting to wyrd me out. What could a sitcom spawn of a preadolescent want with a demonic, urban terrorist?

'J' drifted over towards a boarded window. Thin cracks let slivers of silver moonlight streak across his face. He gazed outward into nothingness for a short bit before turning to face me.

'No matter how much the Titans fight Slade……,' he 'said' '……he keeps getting stronger. And every time he gets stronger, it is not just the City that he threatens, but the Titans themselves. He keeps hurting them more and more with the same ferocity that he hurts the City, if not moreso. And everytime he hurts the Titans, he rips a precious piece of them out and turns it against them. First he struck with Robin. And then he struck with Terra. He keeps making a huge wound huger. Can you believe how horrible he is?'

Most of what he said was Greek to me. Every boy born in America knows who 'Robin' is. But 'Terra'??

I scratched my head and shrugged. 'What do I know? Horribleness is relative. I do not like Slade. I wish he would stop terrorizing this City. But I hardly think that is possible. Not today. Not tomorrow.'

'Why not?' he hand-signed.

I smirked.

Idealists are cute……

'Slade is merely a piece of the world. And the world manifests its ugly self in billions of ways. To expect Slade to stop can be compared to expecting death to stop dying or pain to stop paining. It is but a dream. A dream within a dying dream we call existence.'

'J' jerked as if suddenly wracked with a sharp, sharp pain.

I looked at him from an angle, a bit concerned suddenly.

He sighed depressingly with glistening green eyes as he signed: 'I almost wish I knew what you have been through.'

I mouthed: 'Huh?'

'Everything you say……what you believe in……,' 'J' shuddered and gestured: 'It is so fatalistic. So cold and painful and lonely. Do you not understand? If you keep fighting crime alone like that, what you believe in the most will flip on you and someday you might find yourself sharing nothing but the pain instead of peace.'

"………………," I stared past him.

'Mister Noir,' he went on with a compassionate gaze. 'The Titans may be hypocrites. But at least they are sane hypocrites. They have shoulders to lean on. People to share their pain with. You can fight in this City alone all you want. But inevitably you will run into the Titans. And when you run into the Titans, you will either work with them or work against them. This City may look big, but it is far too small for you and them to work separately.'

I frowned. 'Then I will just have to find another City!'

'You know you would not leave, right?' 'J' added.

I ran a hand through my thick black hair. I stared at the floor and exhaled.

He was right.

He was right……

I couldn't leave this City. Because……no matter what……

After all the distance I traveled, this was the furthest East I could possibly go.

I closed my eyes and sighed for a second or two.

"………"

I opened my eyes. I glanced across the room. I looked at 'J'.

I hand-signed: 'Where did that piano come from?'

He blinked. He looked at it……he then smiled. 'I learned to play the piano from my mother,' he took a happy breath as a warmth spread over his young features. 'She took care of me a lot when I was younger. I miss her now.'

I snapped my finger.

He looked at me.

I pointed. 'The piano. I mean the piano.'

He mouthed: 'Oh'. He scratched his head. 'I do not know. It is just here. There are some things even I do not know.'

I looked at him.

He looked at me.

I snickered breathily.

He let out a silent giggle, hugging himself.

I shook my head and chuckled some more.

If we had voices, they would echo.

After a minute or so, we both exhaled.

And then……with wicked nonchalance……he pointed and hand-signed: 'Where did you get that scar?'

"………," I envisioned the obvious 'X'-shaped mark on the inside of my throat. I smirked cynically.

He smiled innocently at me.

I pointed back and asked: 'Where did you get your scar??'

It was merely a rhetorical rebuttal of mine.

Imagine how much I was floored when he actually answered me:

'My father gave it to me.'

My lips parted some.

'J' was deadpan. His face lingered on happiness and sadness. But somewhere in his green eyes I saw an uplifting warmth of hope. Something that wanted to reach into the souls of lonely wanderers and turn everything upside down for some transient good.

And it frightened me.

Not so much as—

His father???

I made a face.

What the f---

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

'J' gasped. His little green eyes were wide.

I jumped.

In a flurry, the small boy dashed down the stairs.

Hey!!

I blurred after him.

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

'J' ran down the stairwell and into the candle-lit room. He nearly tripped once in his scrambling attempt to get to his equipment. He jumped onto his cot and was immediately typing away at his loudly-beeping laptop with furious fingers.

I skidded to a stop beside him, panting. I gazed as hundreds of text scrolled past the screen at a rate that only the little computer munchkin could understand.

'What is it??' I hand-signed.

His back was to me. He mutely went forth with his keyboard ministrations.

The DOS prompt warbled green and black until it finally froze on something.

'J' gasped, his lands literally held to his face. He slammed his finger over a key.

Lights appeared in a cluster on the other laptop's City map. It highlighted a building complex ten blocks away.

'J' ran nervous hands through his blonde hair.

I knelt beside him. I glanced at him, at the map, at him again. I hand-signed my curiosity.

He looked at me, panting. He hand-signed: 'My detection program!'

'What detection program?!?'

'The one that scans for carbonite explosives. It has a positive lock!'

I blinked under my shades. 'Why do you have a carbonite explosive detection program?'

He gritted his teeth and shoved me.

I was barely jostled.

Fuming, he hand-signed: 'To keep track of Slade, you stupid head! Everyone knows that Slade uses carbonite in his terrorist wrath!'

I raised an eyebrow.

Uhhhh…………y-yeah……

'There are four explosives set to go! At an apartment complex just north of Downtown! I still have not acquired the material needed to infiltrate the City's infrastructure and digitally manufacture a warning to the fire stations! How can I warn the people? It is not like I could run there and do something!!'

I looked at him. I looked at the screens.

"………………………"

I looked at him again and hand-signed: 'But I can.'

He bit his lip.

I took a breath. 'Look. There should be a bunch of people in that apartment complex, right?'

'They are wealthy apartments. There are less people per unit floor space. But I would estimate at least one hundred and fifty if they are all at home.'

'I will go. You stay safe.'

I got up and blurred towards the nearby window.

He ran after me, wringing his hands.

I stopped at the window and kicked the boards loose. SMASH!!! CHIIING!! I had Myrkblade out and was already summoning murk. I glanced back at him.

He hand-signed: 'Why are you doing this if you believe that people like Slade will not ever be stopped?'

I took a breath. I reached into my pocket for something and flicked it at the boy.

A playing card slid to a stop at J's feet.

I blurred out the window.

"…………" 'J' knelt and picked up it up. He turned it over. He made a face.

The joker card………

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

"Okay……I think I got something…..," Cyborg said. He finished a keystroke. Schematics flew up across the computer screen. He rubbed his chin as he read the information. "Okay……"

"What's it saying?" Raven asked, standing beside him.

"It's telling us what the experiment concluded," Cyborg muttered. "It appears there's a high content of sodium chloride moisture-produced mildew on some of the equipment."

"Sodium chloride?"

"Maybe the villains' tools were made or stored somewhere near a body of salt water," Cyborg typed some more. Another screen flashed up. "Hmmm….this test shows a plastic alloy constant in all of the props. Never before did all of the villains use the same material in producing their tools and weapons."

"Plastic alloy?" Raven made a face. "Even in Johnny Rancid's gun?"

"It's a very strong material," Cyborg said. "The likes of which are found exclusively in some of the old war machines produced by Lexcorp."

"Lexcorp….now that raises an eyebrow."

"It doesn't mean anything," Cybrog said. "Not yet." He typed some more. "As much as we're on a homework assignment to scrounge up incriminating data for Commissioner Decker……I'm more concerned with finding out just who conducted these experiments and why."

"If it was 'J'—"

"And it most certainly was."

"…….ahem. If it was 'J' and he was merely a hacker from outside the Tower, how could he have physically scanned the evidence?"

"That's exactly what I want to know," Cyborg said. "Here—woo."

"Woo what?"

"Something startling," he blinked. "Uhm….this experiment was conducted just last night."

"Last night??"

"If I recall right…..all of us were asleep then. Ya know? As in 'not awake and active'??"

Raven folded her arms. "Supposedly….."

"………"

A beat.

Cyborg began typing.

"What are you doing now?" Raven droned.

"Something so stupidly simple, it may answer all of this in one fatal swoop."

"What's that?"

"Looking at camera feed of my laboratory at the exact time the computer says this experiment was conducted."

"……," Raven glanced at the table full of evidence just behind them, then back at Cyborg's work. "Lovely."

"Brace yourself," Cyborg said at the end of his keystroke.

-Click-

The computer monitor splashed forth a black and white image of the very computer they were working at approximately eighteen hours previous.

Raven blinked. "Whoah….," she monotonously uttered.

Cyborg half-stood up. "What in the Hell??"

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

Robin and Starfire walked side-by-side through a City park that night. Robin had his hands in his pockets. Starfire's hands rested in the pouch of her sweatjacket. Electric lights glowed softly overhead. A fountain trickled off darkly in the distance. The park was pretty much abandoned by the rest of the population. They looked and felt extremely alone.

Starfire sighed.

Robin looked at her.

She glanced back at him, having to tilt her head down a bit to do so. She smiled. "Yes, Robin?"

"Are you okay, Starfire?"

"Mmmhmmm," she nodded.

His eyemask gazed down at the sidewalk. "I was…..was almost afraid that—"

"I do not harbor any anger towards you, Robin."

"…………."

"I have never had a reason to," she spoke. "Frustration? True…..hehehe….I cannot deny that."

He smiled a bit. "Yeah. That first time we ran into Nova'm, I could swear you were going to bite my arms off."

"Hehehehe! Ohhhh how emotional I was at that time."

"Can't blame you," he shrugged. "Nova'm is very special to you."

A beat.

"You are….a-also very special to me, Robin," she spoke.

He silently nodded. Quiet understanding.

She gazed ahead of them as they walked.

Silence.

A lot of silence.

She glanced at Robin.

Robin was gone.

"???" she turned around completely.

The Boy Wonder was sitting on a bench. Alone. Hunched over.

"……," she drifted over and stood before him.

Without looking up, he gazed through the earth. He spoke: "My dream, Starfire….."

"Yes, Robin?"

A beat.

"It is about a girl," he said quietly. "A girl who once was not, then was, then wasn't again."

"…….," Starfire slowly sat down beside him. She folded her hands in her lap. "I am listening…."

Robin rubbed his hands together in the cold air. "It's not a….figurative dream. Nor is it some vision of mine. It's….It's a recollection……It's something that actually happened…."

Starfire leaned her head to the side.

"I was thirteen at the time. Barely thirteen. I was still a fresh, new apprentice to Batman. I was scanning the streets for crime or wrongdoing. I found her being approached by a band of bikers. I stopped them before they could do anything to the girl. But she ran off. When I tried to help her, she said that she had to keep running. She had to keep running from some man. That man appeared. He claimed to be her father. He was a gargantuan human being. I couldn't fight him on my own. Batman jumped in and joined the fray. But the man ran away. And so did the girl. I searched all over Gotham City for her. I spent hours on end under the red night trying to find her helpless little soul. When I did, she showed me that I was the only person who ever cared for her. She trusted me. I was to be her protector. And in protecting her….I….I-I only led her to her doom. We ran into her father again…and I learned the horrifying truth. Her father was Clayface. And she was an extension of him. A drone made for villainous reconnaissance throughout Gotham City. But when she left his presence, she forgot what she was made to be. She only knew herself to be the scared little girl lost in the streets of Gotham. But I didn't believe she was that insignificant. I wouldn't accept her as some fake mound of mutated clay. I fought Clayface to save her. I was nearly killed. I was nearly killed and….she sacrificed herself. She sacrificed herself so that I might live. I can see her face when I close my eyes. Those round, innocent eyes throbbing in pain as she is consumed once again with some hideous mound of evil. I completely lost it. I found a way to destroy Clayface and I nearly leapt upon it. But that's when Batman returned to the scene and Clayface was imprisoned instead. That monster lived on and the girl didn't. She was real…..and yet she wasn't. She died, but she never left my dreams. Frustrating…incessant dreams of someone who didn't deserve to die so much that she didn't even deserve to live. When I stayed in Gotham, she was in my dreams. When I came here to this City and formed the Titans, she stayed in my dreams. And everytime I have the dream, the same thing happens. Except last night….when something changed."

Starfire took a shuddering breath. Her green eyes were slightly wet and her lips quivered. "What….Robin?"

The Boy Wonder looked at her. "She lived, Star."

She gazed back at him.

Robin ran a shaking hand through his hair. "It's like….like the script of my dream was re-written. She lived. She lived and she….." He hugged himself and sat cross-legged—shrunken—on the bench. "….she told me she was real. I could feel her hands. Her face was so close. It was all so…..so warm……"

A chill wind.

Starfire was dead still.

Robin shuddered: "I forgot how warm it was. How warm everything is…."

"How do you mean, Robin?"

He swallowed and gazed at her. "When….When you feel for someone, Starfire. I mean…..r-really feel for someone. When everything you've ever done or ever plan on doing wraps itself around a person's soul. And you find yourself doing everything you can to save that one person…or that one idea….or that one thing."

Silence.

He hung his head and sighed. "I….I-I looked all over Gotham City for that girl. I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I didn't rest….until I could so much as gaze upon her again. To have her in my presence. To know that….th-that she existed. And to know that she was safe. To know that I could be with her. To protect her in spite of all of the infinite elements working against her security. She was the preservation of a paradox. And….and she came and went. Since then….four years have passed and I keep being reminded of how precious it once meant to truly protect a person or a thing that was special to you. I've lost that feeling in so much combat and so much leadership and so much obsession over Slade and so many other quackjobs in this City that I'm finding myself growing up at the speed of light and sooner than I know it, I'll be lying dead in the gave." The Boy Wonder swallowed, shuddered, and spat: "Alone."

Starfire bit her lip.

He gazed slowly at her. A beat. "Starfire…..I-I…..after that dream…..I-I had to see you last night. I couldn't put it off. Not then. Not when everything in my head just….j-just so spontaneously collapsed."

"Why, Robin?" Starfire's eyes trailed as she wrung her clasped hands. "What….What part of all this do I play?"

He took a deep breath. "Because….B-Because you know far too well what this feeling is, don't you?"

"………," she looked perplexed.

"You understand…wh-what it means to….t-to have someone in this world that you care about," he said softly. "It's like a tiny heat inside your heart that explodes on sight. It makes you want to laugh and cry at once. But most of all….you wish for things to last forever. Like a moment. A snapshot. A warm breath." A beat. "I….I-I once knew what that felt like, Starfire. I had it torn from me….and….now I'm getting a glimpse of what it looks like again. I don't know why….but I am. And….I wanted to ask you…..to ask you if you have that feeling to."

Starfire's eyes closed. She took a deep breath. "Robin….what I am about to say may not bode well with you…….but it is the truth…."

Robin shrugged. "Go ahead, Starfire. Of all days in my life….for some reason I feel like nothing couldn't bode well with me."

She reopened her eyes and looked deeply through his eyemask. "Ever since the first day I came here….I was supposed to be studying and understanding Earth. Maybe I have accomplished that. Maybe I have not. But I know for a fact that—all the time—I have instead been studying and trying to understand you." She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and leaned forward. "On this planet, one may call this an 'obsession'. And such is understood. But I do not believe that you are an obsession to me, Robin. Because obsessions do not live and breathe and sigh and—as I have recently witnessed—cry. You are so much like this wonderful planet, Robin. You are strong in spirit and mind and voice. But….But any day you can just perish in the blink of an eye. And I-I know that you are more than capable of fending for yourself in the face of any villain….but…..b-but…."

"You desire to protect me….," Robin openly admitted. There was no emotion to the way he said it. It was just a softly-spoken fact.

She nodded shakily. "I……so do desire to protect you, Robin. It is unfair to you….but I cannot shake loose my apprehensions concerning your safety. Yet, it is not pity or an inferiority complex that fills my Tamaranian spirit with an urge to keep you safe. I just…..I-I want to preserve your existence. And in this dangerous occupation, such is a most harrowing prospect at best. I want to preserve your existence…out of s-selfish reasons. Because I would be greatly saddened and so very alone if you were to die tomorrow. I cannot imagine an hour or a minute without you to lean on and to teach me the idiosyncrasies of this planet. I cannot imagine what life on Earth would be like without you to compliment me or make me feel like I am not a foreign freak or…or….."

Her voice lingered off. She sighed.

"I….I suppose that I must sound like I am desperate," she simpered nervously. "You have undoubtedly heard these words from me before. X'Hal knows……I can only seem to express myself to you in words."

Silence.

Robin looked up at her. "Starfire…..would it make you happy to know…..j-just to know that I am here?"

"……….."

"That I do exist? That there is nothing….nothing in the universe that would keep me from being split from you if I could so much as help it this very moment?"

"I…..I-I know that you would never forsake me, Robin," she spoke.

"But do you feel it, Starfire?"

She blinked confusedly at him. "R-Robin??"

He leaned forward. "Do you feel it, Starfire?" he asked. "Do you feel that I'm truly here?" A beat. "Do you feel me?"

"Robin…I-I….," she scooted away apprehensively. "It is n-not typical of you to speak in such emphatic fashion of 'feeling'…."

"I don't feel typical today, Starfire," he breathed. "And….I-I don't understand it. It's like I'm a whole 'nother person. Maybe I'm losing my mind. Maybe I never had my mind to begin with. I've spent so many years hammering myself into two completely different identities that I've found myself having to seek solace in some third, emotionless, cold identity. And for one moment last night…I caught a glimpse of what it means to be warm again. To be simple. To be honest and….sincere." He raised a hand halfway as if to touch her wrist…but he didn't. He didn't want to break a barrier that was too sacred for the both of them. As if such barrier always, invisibly existed. "I feel like I'm going to lose this glimpse very soon, Starfire. And I know that once I lose it…..I will see things clouded again. And I know I may be fine with that. But when I woke up from that dream of dreams last night….I wasn't thinking about myself. I wasn't even thinking about the girl. I was thinking about you, Starfire. You have a great need….a great need that is so obvious that….it's a tragedy that I keep pushing you away. And—to be honest—it's a tragedy that I keep holding myself back."

"Robin I….," Starfire stared off into the night-shrouded park. "I….I can tell that you are far too vulnerable for your own good right now. This is not necessa—"

"Do you want to hug me, Star?"

"…….," she glanced at him. "Huh??"

"Do you want to hug me, Starfire?"

She simpered. "Robin…hehehe…..y-you know very well that I am always hugging you as it is. What difference does it make now, silly?"

He continued staring at her. "Would you like to hold me then?"

Her green eyes blinked. "H-Hold…..you?"

He slowly nodded.

"Robin…..," she breathed. "But….wh-what is the difference?"

"You know."

Silence.

They kept staring at each other.

Starfire shivered a few times as if in a latent reaction to the autumn night. Her lips moved, as if mutely muttering something. Tamaranian. English. Nothing at all. She felt it natural as she scooted back over and hesitantly placed her hands on Robin's shoulders.

The Boy Wonder didn't move. He kept gazing at her.

Starfire swallowed. She leaned forward once…haltered….leaned forward again, and slowly….like a huge airborne blanket settling to a bed in the summer time….she gently hugged the Boy Wonder. Her hands rested gently on his shoulders for a short span in time before drifting down feather-soft to his back and gently squeezing, holding him to her.

Robin remained still. He didn't hug back. He didn't move an inch.

He just let Starfire 'hold' him.

And hold him the Tamaranian girl did. She slowly reached a hand up and ran it through the black hair on the back of his head while her other wrist settled in the small of his back. It almost looked from a distance like she was cradling him. The embrace was warm and close and real. And sooner than Starfire admittedly wanted it to happen, green tears were gently streaming their way out from her clenched eyelids and she sniffed over Robin's shoulder.

"I care about you so much, Robin….," she shuddered and her voice choked. "M'dtorrak de X'Hal…I do not ever want to lose you."

"I'm here, Starfire…," he spoke and finally hugged her back. His arms encircling her gently. He responded to her voice and embrace only. "Do you feel me? Do you hear me? I am real. I'm not going anywhere…."

Her whole torso shook in a single sob. She sniffed it back, bit her lip, and hugged Robin's body closer to hers. "You a-are so precious, Robin. So st-strong…and y-yet so fragile. Do not ever die on me. Please…X'Hal….do not ever die…."

"I won't, Starfire….," he hugged her back in response and rested his head over her shoulder and leaned it against her head. "I promise you…..I won't ever die on you…"

She shuddered.

He calmly let her encircle him with her embrace.

The two slowly rocked together under the dim glow of an electric light.

It never flickered.

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

Late that evening, the R-Cycle was parked in front of the Tower.

Robin and Starfire walked towards the building's entrance.

Side by side.

Robin looked at Starfire.

She glanced back at him.

A beat.

He smiled and stretched his hand outward.

Starfire giggled. She took his invitation.

The two walked up to the door hand-in-hand.

They entered in together.

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

Cyborg and Raven were waiting for them in the atrium.

"Hey guys….don't mind us," Robin shamelessly motioned at the girl he was sharing a hand with. "We're trying playing two-person blob tag and really enjoying it!"

Starfire giggled and hid her blushing face in a hand. "Goodness! This is most flustering…."

Cyborg and Raven stared. "………"

Robin chuckled. He cleared his throat. "What's up?"

Cyborg swallowed nervously. "Uhm….Robin?"

"Yeah, Cy?"

He glanced at Raven.

"……"

Cyborg glanced at Robin. "Are you feeling…..okay?"

"Pfft…what's that supposed to mean?" he smirked. "Something wrong wit—"

"You and Starfire are fine," he gestured. "I'm asking you. Are you feeling okay? Any dizziness? Awkwardness? Loose emotion?"

Robin raised an eyebrow.

Starfire leaned her head to the side, looking concerned. "Friends…what is the meaning of this inquiry? Is there something Robin must know?"

"Rae?" Cyborg remarked.

"I've been scanning, Cyborg…," Raven uttered. Her face was in concentration and it was then that the Boy Wonder first noticed that she was concentrating her gaze on him in only the way an empathy would. "…there's definitely something strange. But it's practically insignificant. Hard to detect. That's why I managed to overlook it before."

"Okay…what's going on here?" Robin remarked with a glare that summoned his usual irascibility. "I think we're entitled to know."

Cyborg took a deep breath. "Well allright. Come on….we need to show you something."

Starfire leaned into Robin, looking nervous.

Robin silently led the two of them after Cyborg and Raven into the elevator.

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

The four were gathered in Cyborg's laboratory.

"Now Robin….," Cyborg spoke from the computer seat. "Please understand….even we don't know what this means yet. And we're not suspecting anything, so don't you worry—"

"Just show us what it is," Robin folded his arms. "You brought us here for a reason, right?"

Cyborg glanced at Raven.

"Well don't look at me."

Cyborg shrugged. "Whatever." He typed at the computer. "Here goes….."

-click-

A black and white security camera footage displayed the very same laboratory they were in. Only, it was early the previous morning. Barely past midnight.

Robin and Starfire leaned forward. Squinting.

"This is footage from last night," Cyborg spoke. "When I tried conducting an experiment on the criminal evidence found at the Prison—like we had planned—I found out that someone had already been conducting the experiment. Not only that, but he had been accessing top secret Titan security files and criminal archives over a two hour period…..and none of us knew a thing about it until I traced it back to this footage."

"X'Hal….," Starfire murmured.

Robin's lips parted. "What…..How……."

The footage showed a very familiar dark-haired young man in a cape and tights. With a white eyemask. He was very busy at scanning the said materials and typing flurriedly away at the computer with inhuman, almost hacker-expertise.

"You don't remember doing any of it, do you Robin?" Raven droned.

"I….I….," Robin snapped his gaze off from the screen and looked widely at Raven. "N-No! I don't!! Seriously….I…. h-how……..I-I-I was asleep! I wasn't anywhere near the laboratory. I went to sleep early yesterday, remember?"

"Yes!" Starfire added with hands clasped together. "In fact, he was dreaming!"

Robin bit his lip.

"Nobody's denying that, Robin," Raven said.

Robin did a double-take. "Excuse me?"

Cyborg motioned towards the footage still playing. "I cross-referenced this with other security sensors running at the time. You were sleeping dawg. You were in the process of REM sleep at the same time you performed a professional computer analysis of the materials, searched the archives, and then hid your tracks using your very own Titans Authorization Code."

Robin nearly stumbled backwards.

"Robin…," Starfire walked over and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder.

He looked at her. "I….I-I don't remember, Star….," he murmured. He looked at the others. He cackled. "I don't remember ANY of it!!"

"And we believe you," Cyborg said.

Raven stepped forward. "But what concerns us….is why you did all of that in your sleep."

"How could I possibly know that??"

Raven shook her head. "You don't. But I'm sure the person who was controlling you does."

Robin's eyemask thinned. "Excuse me??"

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

InzeUltima: how many things are you going to do to worry me anyways?

I typed on the laptop while sitting on my bed.

SpSquirrel: Excuse me?

InzeUltima: Being kidnapped by some witch villain person thingy. :P Ur startin to scare me.

I simpered.

SpSquirrel: I don't ask for danger. Danger comes.

InzeUltima: Id be envious if I werent so worried sick about u

SpSquirrel: How's the farm?

InzeUltima: Dont change the subject! Were you hurt any while you were handcuffed?

SpSquirrel: Besides my ego? Nah…

InzeUltima: Argh!! Sometimes it feels like winepressing to try and get information from you!

I smiled.

SpSquirrel: It makes me mysterious.

InzeUltima: nah it just makes you a butthole :P

SpSquirrel: A mysterious butthole.

InzeUltima: lolololol

SpSquirrel: So, how's the farm?

InzeUltima: Why dont you ever want to talk about yourself? I want to learn all about you, Jordan.

SpSquirrel: There isn't much worthy to know.

InzeUltima: Sure there is! Every superhero has a nifty backstory!

I took a deep breath.

I subconsciously typed…

SpSquirrel: Heh.

InzeUltima: Wuts so funny

SpSquirrel: At one time, I would have told you that Im not a superhero.

InzeUltima: But you are one now, right?

Silence across the Internet.

A minute passed.

InzeUltima: Jordan??

Another minute passed.

My fingers were still.

InzeUltima: You there? Did you get disc?

I was gazing off.

I stared at one of the lantern lights in my room.

The dancing flame stabbed into my naked eyes.

I was building a cold sweat.

I was being blinded.

I started breathing heavily.

InzeUltima: Jordan? Is something wrong?

My face flinched.

More cold sweat.

An exhale.

My arm….

Red Aviary.

InzeUltima: Jordan…please type something…

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

I blurred down the street.

My lungs heaved.

I streamed down the blocks and made sharp, smoke-pulsing turns as I honed in on my destination.

I gazed up ahead.

I saw the apartments as illustrated on J's map.

Merely a three-story, white, pretty set of stone buildings.

In mid-sprint, I smiled.

I made it……

I ran straight towards the building side facing the street.

Now……it's a rich place. It probably has a lobby with someone in it. If I just rush in and somehow warn them about the carbonite without looking like a psychopath, I just might be able to—

BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Slade's bombs went off.

My eyes exploded in hot white light.

I winced all over, lost my footing, and tripped.

WHAM!!!

I stumbled into the ground and rolled across the asphalt.

FWOOOOOOOSH!!!!

The concussion blast from the explosion hit me.

I rolled back a foot or two.

I clutched my face……my burning eyes.

I panted.

My teeth clenched.

A deafening roar was filling my ears.

I shook all over.

The sounds of clattering, falling debris echoed around me.

I scrambled up to my feet.

I felt around for Myrkblade.

I picked it up and stood dizzily.

I slowly opened my eyes.

Tears of burning pain streamed down from under my shades.

I saw a plume of hot white fire where the building was.

Smoldering up towards the sky like a lashing tongue from Hell.

And as I leaned forward….as I hobbled forward.

I panted.

For I heard voices.

Voices.

Screaming, tortured voices.

People were burning alive.

My lips opened and a breath escape.

The ghost left me.