These Black Eyes

by P0ST

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

157. J part 5 final

157. J part 5 Final

"…………………"

I stared down the hallway to the storage room.

Casket models lay stretched open on satin pedestals.

Side by side.

Dull purple, brown, gray, and black.

"…………………"

There was a stamping sound to my left.

A shuffling of an envelope.

Then someone stretching his arm towards me.

"Here you go, son."

"……………………"

"Jordan??"

I blinked under my shades. I slowly gazed over at my boss.

He sat behind his desk in his usual suit. He had an envelope held out towards me.

"Your pay for this week. By law……you have to take it……heheh."

"…………," I slowly nodded. I took the envelope from him. I numbly turned it over in my hands. Staring downwards. "……………"

The balding man stared. He blinked once or twice. He stood up and shuffled over with a sigh. "Are you……all right, Jordan?"

"……………"

"I knew when I hired you that I would have the perfect usher," he said, coming to a stop in front of me and holding his hands together behind his back. "You would never speak or……impose yourself upon the crowd. But at the same time, that makes it a little hard for Ariel, Bart, or I to truly know if you're satisfied with this work environment or not. And never mind where you live and all, I've already gone there. I just wonder sometimes……what is it that you do that makes you so………so serious for your age? People as young and healthy as you shouldn't be so surrounded in death."

I merely stared at him.

He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Who am I to judge, right? I just want you to know that you can count on us if you need anything. You've won our respect by now, son. And don't feel obligated at all that I'm saying this. After all……," he patted my shoulder and smirked. "……everyone deserves a family, right?"

"……………"

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

I slowly walked down the streets of the northeast district.

Under the thundering L-Train track, past bazaars of multiple ethnicities, through open marketplaces in the street full of old brown things and pawning people, across abandoned construction sites where children played hide and seek, alongside a metal-fenced basketball court where two teams with a ball went at it.

The sun was setting, piercing the spring air with a fiery red glow. Everyone and everything at once seemed to subconsciously acknowledge that the world was dying. The roughest streets were happy and cheerful for but two hours of red-tainted bliss.

My pace was a lazy one. My legs were practically limping. I didn't care if I got home early or late. I didn't care if I got home.

I stared at the pavement and asphalt below me.

Eyes hidden blacker behind black shades.

Mute.

"……………"

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

I sat on the edge of the Norman Apartments' rooftop that night.

The usual family crowd had gathered in the 'safe' domain.

Mothers on half-worn lawn chairs.

Men in the corner discussing something in a beer circle.

The kids playing with a red ball towards the center.

I had Myrkblade with me……a sight that most everyone was used to by then. I had the blade sheathed and was leaning on it with it rested between my knees. I slowly, absent-mindedly fingered the wooden designs on the sheathe. My shaded eyes gazed through the texture of the rooftops.

"………………"

A halo of light from nearby neon signs shimmered off my back and scattered to the corners of the building top. A gentle spring breeze drifted down momentarily and took off as soon as it landed. I shut my eyes beneath my shades. I exhaled.

A beat.

A giggle.

A gasp.

A bouncing sound. A rolling sound.

Something tapped into Myrkblade's sheathe.

"……………"

I opened my eyes.

I looked down.

A red ball.

Five little kids ran to a stop in an invisible line of the rooftop four feet away from me.

They stared, suddenly quiet.

Pensive.

A beat.

I palmed the ball.

I lifted it up to face level.

I stared at the ball.

"……………"

I stared at them.

"………………" I smiled.

FWOOOSH!!!!

I let loose a pulse of murk from my hand.

The ball went flying high up.

The kids' heads tilted up.

Five gasping little mouths.

The ball came down.

I caught it.

I aimed over their heads.

FWOOOOSH!!!!

Another pulse of murk.

The ball went flying over them.

They scattered for it, giggling.

I sighed and leaned forward on Myrkblade. Watching them. Blinking.

"………………"

I gazed over.

I saw some mothers looking at me. Mixture of trust and exhaustion. People who were either blessed or depressed by my presence. Maybe both.

In spite of everything……

"………………"

I shut my eyes.

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

"Listen, Albert……we're alone on this. We really……truly are alone. Nobody has the balls to get up and do something about this damn little war of ours."

"But the Titans—"

"The Titans nothing, Gary! Slade is taking potshots at the entire neighborhood. And where he can't slither his little explosives in, he's got crackhead suckups doing the dirty work for him!! I know the black eyes has got us safe up until now. But not even he's going to do anything in the long run. He's said that himself. The best way he can!"

Albert leaned back in a rickety chair inside the apartment's kitchen. He sighed, rubbed his temples, and spoke: "You know……that Jordan kid is a lot smarter than we give him credit for."

"You turning on a dime, Albert?"

"I'm serious, guys. Here at Norman……we can't afford to piss Slade off. The black eyes is practically synonymous with this place. If he went out and started throwing stones or something……the rest of us would fall into a domino effect. As if things aren't snowballing already, the news is calling it a blow in the face of the Titans."

"The Titans never give a shit for us anyways."

"They're not careless. They're just ignorant!"

"Stop defending them!"

"Look. They may be young punks. But they actually do something for this City!! You think things are Hell under Slade?? Try living a month in Gotham, man!"

"……………"

"Just what do we do??"

"What can we do?"

Albert shrugged. "We get together. We have meetings. We woe over tomorrow."

Heads hung.

"I almost wish he never came here to begin with."

"Who?"

"Jordan."

"The black eyes?"

"Yeah. It's too dangerous to live safely nowadays."

"Good point………good point……"

"……………"

Knock Knock Knock

"………………???"

"Get it, will you Gary?"

"Sure thing. Perhaps it's Victor."

One kitchen chair scooted back. The man got up slowly and marched over towards the door to the apartment. He looked out the keyhole. "Who's there?!"

A wavering voice answered back. Barely audible through the door.

But Gary seemed to understand. He swiftly undid the locks, the latchkey, and the knob.

Creeeeak.

He opened the door.

Agnes, the old lady, stood in the hallway, visibly through the crack. She peered inside through her bifocals.

Albert stood up. "Agnes……what brings you here this hour?"

The door opened the rest of the way.

There I stood besides Agnes. I stared in through my shades. "……………"

The others were silent.

"Young Jordan was so kind to w-walk me home," Agnes smiled. "I thought it'd be only proper that I'd h-help him talk to you fellows."

Gary looked back at the others.

A beat.

Albert nodded. "S-Sure. I mean……why not?"

A few fidgeted in their kitchen seats.

I hand-signed something.

"'It's short and simple……,'" Agnes explained for me.

"Alright……"

The old lady and I stepped inside. We faced the group.

I took a deep breath.

I gestured.

Agnes translated: "'I would……like you……to tell me where…………your injured………companions………were attacked………by Slade's men…………'"

The men blinked. They exchanged gazes.

Albert scratched his head. "Um, I thought you were a-against confronting Slade……"

I stared at him. I hand-signed.

Agnes: "'I will……be the judge of…………who is……or who is not……confronting…'"

Albert bit his lip.

Gary cleared his throat.

The owner of the apartment stood up shrugged: "What do you intend to do?"

"'I cannot say yet. I just need to find out more of Slade.'"

"But why, all of the sudden?"

"Yeah, man. Did you change overnight or what?"

I stared at them all. I hand-signed.

"'I was……there……at the…………apartment bombing'."

Silence.

"I……I-I see……," Albert scratched his neck. "But……if you find Slade, what would happen if—"

I held a hand up.

Albert stopped.

I hand-signed.

Agnes translated: "'I would not be……too worried……about anything……men……'"

The owner's eyes thinned. "What do you mean?"

"'If I……do indeed………find Slade……or if Slade………finds me……………then you will………not be……seeing me………ever again………'"

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

The aqueduct.

Gary's brother was attacked by Slade's robots days ago on his way home. They came in and out of the darkness just as he passed the human canal. Nobody else had sighted them in the streets or along the building sides.

There was only one other place for them to have gone.

I blurred to a stop, perching acrobatically on a lamppost overlooking the aqueduct the next morning. I gazed down into the bone-dry canal. Grass had over-grown in the cracks between the cement. The body of a dead cat rested along the hard slopes of the structure, gathering flies. The pale granite stretched onward and onward between rusted and dilapidated fences of metal chainlink and the shanty buildings beyond. The aqueduct ended in two huge, black tunnels.

The sewers……

"………………," my black eyes narrowed under my shades.

CHIIIING!!!!

I unsheathed Myrkblade.

I took a breath.

I blurred down and ran a smoking streak under the hot sun and into the cool darkness of the tunnel.

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

Once truly underground, I effectively slowed down.

I paced myself patiently through the huge, cylindrical catacombs.

My feet were silent as I expertly snuck my way down the dark corridors. Mysterious cracks from the world above shimmered golden rays of light down intermittently across the labyrinth.

It was strangely dry in that part of the Town's underground. There was practically no moisture to be found. I imagined that these were sewers that were either built an indescribable long time ago or they simply did not live up to any liquid distribution standards.

Whatever the case, the City I was in had a huge waste of underground corridors on their hands. A waste of corridors that was just perfect for criminal exploitation. Exploitation by eccentric madmen and brilliant terrorists.

Like Slade.

I crept along steadily.

Myrkblade hung to my right side. My hand gripping the blade was taut. My fingers wrapping around the hilt tightly. Everytime I rounded a corner, I lifted the blade up and at ready.

But I found nothing. No robotic henchmen. No death traps. Not even any suspicious alterations to the concrete environment.

I took a deep breath and pressed on……slowly.

Thinking………

Just exactly what does this 'Slade' look like, anyhow?

I reached my left hand out.

Sensitive fingers flexing inward and outward.

I extended a field of murk.

I thinned my eyes.

I concentrated…………

"………………"

………………I sensed an irregularity in a large chamber ahead of me. Through a square entrance. Abandoned and silent. Still.

I took a deep breath.

I lowered my arm, gripped Myrkblade in two hands, and crept towards it.

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

My feet echoed, and I knew then and there that in that interior I had no chance of exhibiting perfect stealth.

I came to a stand-still. I gazed left. I gazed right. I blinked.

"……………………"

It may very well have been a 'hideout' of Slade's. But if it was, it had seen better days. The huge chamber was a virtual graveyard of collapsed metal shards and shrapnel and chunks. But as I gazed more and more at the metallic chaos, I realized that there was a grand purpose to all of it……or at least there once was a grand purpose. There were huge gearshafts, sprockets, shattered axles, and nuts and bolts galore. Ripped and shredded catwalks lay on top of each other. Metal rods lay scattered across the floor. And even shards of glass.

I took a deep breath.

I shuffled forward.

My feet crunched against the littered ground.

I strolled past shattered chunks of metal. Huge, stone-like gears, and even what looked like a cracked throne built for an adult's body.

Slade……

I stopped at the throne momentarily.

"……………"

I gazed beyond it at a huge, tall-stretching wall. I saw figures in it.

A beat.

I walked forward……forward……forward……

I found myself staring at a cracked set of five thin sheets of glass. They reflected me with spiderwebbed clarity. At first, I thought they were mirrors half-serving their purpose. Then I realized that they were huge monitors of some sort. Circuitry was spilling out of some of the larger cracks.

Regardless, I was graced with five reflective doppelgangers of myself stretching from the floor to the ceiling.

I shuffled to a stop.

"……………………"

I closed my eyes. I slipped my shades off. I opened my eyes. I blinked. I gazed at myself. The cracks distorting my face. My faces. The wreckage and the metal wasteland lying beyond and behind.

I exhaled.

Something……

Something climactic must have happened here.

In this very spot.

A terrible battle………something I've been late in attending.

And before my black eyes, five shattered blonde boys appeared.

"…………" I turned around.

J stared up at me. His hands held together nervously.

"……………," I stared up from looking at him and scanned the interior 'horizon'. A beat. I looked back at him.

I hand-signed: 'How do you do that?'

'Do what?' he replied.

'Just appear like that?'

'I do not know what you mean.'

I sighed.

'I suppose not.'

I slipped my shades back on. I looked around the interior once more.

The little boy swallowed and gestured: 'Slade is not here.'

'I gathered that.'

'You were looking for him?'

'Maybe I was. Maybe I was not,' I hand signed. A beat. I narrowed my eyes. 'What are you doing here?'

J bit his lip. He hesitated, hung his head, then eventually looked up at me again to hand-sign: 'I was hoping I would find you.'

"………………"

'Really. I was. I was hoping you would be wanting so much to track down Slade.'

'Since when was Slade your responsibility?' I hand-signed. A beat. 'Since when was I your responsibility?'

'Neither is my responsibility.'

'Then what is a little boy like you doing in such a place like this?'

"…………………," J turned and walked towards the shattered throne.

I stared at him.

He stood in the shadow of the huge seat. After a moment, he turned and hand-signed at me: 'Do you know what this place is?'

I sighed. I lethargically responded: 'An old home of Slade?'

'It is where peace won in the end,' he gestured. 'There are many places in this City where peace won. They were places that once were built or overflowing with evil. But out of both bravery and pain and both courage and sacrifice that evil was shattered apart. The Titans themselves found peace here in the very same place and time that they found anguish.'

'If peace won out in the end, why is Slade still alive and kicking and spreading death and murder?'

'Because there is still hope for this City yet.'

I frowned. 'There is very little hope for anything anymore.'

He blinked his green eyes at me. 'Then why are you here?' he pointed.

"…………………"

He answered for both of us: 'It is the same reason that I am here.'

I groaned inwardly. I hand-signed with my eyes closed. 'I am not a self righteous moron.'

The boy smiled slightly. 'But I am. And I am willing to admit that.'

'You got one part right.'

He giggled mutely.

A beat.

He craned his neck as if to look at some angle of my person he hadn't noticed before.

I stared back at him. I blinked.

He suddenly hand-signed: 'You always wear that camouflage and jacket and stuff when you fight crime.'

'Yeah. So?'

'It is like a costume.'

I nodded.

'It is something a Titan would do,' he gestured.

I rolled my eyes.

'You saw them, did you not?'

"………………"

'Up close?'

"………………"

'What did it feel like to be within arm's reach?'

I took a deep breath. I gazed off. I hand-signed: 'Nothing I have not felt before.'

'Is it a good feeling?'

'It makes me know that I am alive.'

'Yes. But is that a good feeling?'

'I have not had a good feeling in years. How would I know?'

'You would know nothing if you do not give it a chance to grow.'

I sighed. 'Why do I get the sense that it is suddenly more important for you to change the person that I am than it is to protect this City from Slade? Will you not be settled until I am suddenly paired up with mid-pubescent superheroes? Will you go as far as to mind-control me?'

'I cannot mind-control you. You are too complex.'

'Just what is that supposed to mean??'

'You do not believe that you are a hero, right?'

'I am a ghost. Nothing more.'

'What is there to possess of a ghost? But the ghost is a spirit. And spirits understand the sensitivity of flesh and blood,' he hand-signed. He took a deep breath. 'There is so much flesh and blood in this City, Noir. And already I know that the spirit inside of you is deeply concerned for it all. Do not even try to deny it. You would lay down your very life for the good of all that you could possibly guarantee. The only problem is, you know that you yourself are not capable of saving so much as a fraction of the huge population being endangered by Slade if you have to do it all alone.'

"……………," I stared down. I sighed.

J smiled and signed: 'A superhero is not a title easily attained. It is something that requires sacrifice. Sometimes the best spirits are those that can withstand exorcism. Someday, the ghost inside of you will be in charge of things, Noir. And do you think that ghost will want to keep all of this darkness if it means more and more people not being able to see the light?'

I exhaled slowly. I gestured: 'The light hurts.'

'Then you are perfect for the job,' J signed. 'The Titans need you, Noir. They need to be reminded what pain is and just what they need to get out of it. Or else the loop will continue. Everything will go full circle.'

I looked at him funny. 'Full circle?'

He nodded.

"………………," I slowly turned and gazed around at the wreckage.

Slade………

I took a deep breath.

Slade doesn't want the City.

He doesn't want my neighbors in the Norman Apartments.

He doesn't even want the lives of those he bombs to death.

All he wants……all he'll ever want……

Is the Titans.

My fists clenched.

I wasn't supposed to be there.

No……

The Titans……

The only way to save the City was to bring the fight away from the City.

But what good would I do? What role would I play? What was the whole point?

I looked at J.

He looked innocently up at me. Those crystal green eyes. That immaculate complexion.

I hand-signed: 'Why are you alone, J? What is to happen to your spirit?'

He blinked. 'My spirit lives in those I see and those who see me.'

I smirked somewhat. 'You do not say……'

A rustling sound.

We both jerked to attention.

Limbs tense.

Ears pricked.

"…………………"

"…………………"

Another rustling sound.

I gripped Myrkblade.

J trembled.

………a rumbling sound.

Beneath us.

J gasped and stumbled backwards.

"????" I stared down.

The metal piles of scrap started to squirm and shake and—

SMASH!!!!!!!

I fell back from an exploding mountain of debris.

J's body went somewhere with a mute cry.

Between us, a huge hulking figure emerged from the ground and 'clawed' his way into the interior of the chamber. CRUNNNNCH!!! "REAAAAGH!!!"

I jumped up to my feet with Myrkblade held high. I panted. Sweating.

My black eyes stared wide at the figure suddenly standing before us. It was a large walking form of cracked granite and stone. I had seen his image in the papers.

Cinderblock…

"Nnnnghhh!!!" he growled. Two lifeless eyes darted over towards me.

"…………" I blinked.

"RAUGH!!" STOMP!!! His foot came down onto the uneven terrain. A solid wave of debris surged through the floor and exploded up into me.

CRASH!!!

"!!!!" I flew back from the impact. I flipped. I landed, perched on an overturned, metal bulkhead.

Cinderblock stood up high and waved his arms. "RUUUURGHAAAA!!!"

I gritted my teeth.

And just why did God spawn these things??

FWOOOOSH!!

I blurred at him. I rose Myrkblade to strike.

He readied his fist.

I took a breath. I teleported through him.

FLASH!!!

I materialized on the other side, spun three hundred and sixty degrees, and slashed hard at his stony back-side.

CL-CLANK!!!

Showers sparked.

Myrkblade nearly vibrated out of my grasp.

I stumbled backwards, panting.

Cinderblock spun around with fists clenched. "RRGHHHHH!!!"

Oh Hell no.

WHAM!!!!!

Solid knuckles of stone slammed into my body. I flew halfway across the littered chamber and ricocheted off a collapsed catwalk. CL-CLANK!!!

THWUMP!!! I landed on the floor. I wheezed and struggled up to my knees, wincing all over.

I heard a shuffling sound.

I glanced left.

J hid behind a huge metal pole. Trembling and helpless.

"RAUGH!!!" Cinderblock brought both of his hands together and slammed them again into the ground of the interior.

RUMMMMMMMBLE!!!!

The whole chamber shook.

There was a groaning sound.

J gasped and looked up.

A loose, car-sized chunk of metal wobbled and broke free from the ghostly mechanisms in the ceiling. A ton and a half of rusted death fell and soared down towards J's tiny figure.

The boy flinched and covered his blonde head.

SWOOOOSH!!!!

I dove in with a pulse of murk, tackled him, and rolled the two of us barely out from underneath the falling chunk.

CRUNCH!!!!

I rolled the two of us over against a metal pylon. I held J protectively beneath me while aiming Myrkblade out towards the noises of the rumbling giant beyond. I breathed slowly, caustious, ready for flight. J trembled in my grasp.

Seconds passed.

I realized that if the monstrosity wanted to eliminate us, he could have done so ages ago. I gently set J aside and crawl over to peer over a hill of metal.

"……………"

Cinderblock was bending over the hole through which he entered up through. He punched a fist into the metal earth—SMASH—and produced an electronic device that fit snugly in his gargantuan hand. With a sneer, he swiveled around and stomped his way out towards the sewer tunnels beyond the ruined chamber.

I didn't realize until I heard the resounding gasp that J was kneeling beside me, also staring at Cinderblock's retreating figure.

"?????" I looked at the blonde kid.

J's mouth hung open. He looked at me with wide green saucers and hand-signed: 'Did you see what was in his grasp?'

"……………"

'It is a detonator!!' J emphatically gestured. 'A detonator to a thermonuclear device!!'

I blinked. I gazed at the exiting monster. I narrowed my black eyes and looked at the smart device in his grasp one more time. I caught the cold glint of familiarity.

Crud……

'Cinderblock is Slade's number one henchman! He must have sent him here to this hideout to retrieve the device! Now Cinderblock has got it and is surely returning the last component to a weapon of mass destruction to his master!!'

I ran a shaking hand through my black strands.

Why does my life suddenly feel like an incestuous relationship of multiple coincidences?

CHIIIING!!!

I lifted Myrkblade from the ground. I stood up. I ran after the beast.

J panted. He ran after me and whistled.

"………," I came to a stop. I turned and glanced at him.

He signed: 'What are you doing?'

'What do you think?'

'You cannot take on Cinderblock on your own!'

'What, you want to help? You cannot boy scout a monster to death.'

"………………," J stared at me.

I took a deep breath. 'Go somewhere safe. I have to get that device from him somehow.'

"Noir……'

'Yes?'

J bit his lip. He hand-signed: 'Do not get yourself killed.'

I blinked. I gestured: 'Ghosts do not die.'

I twirled Myrkblade, spun around, and blurred down the subway in pursuit.

And J was left alone.

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

STOMP!!! STOMP!!! STOMP!!! STOMP!!

Craters formed in the earth as Cinderblock marched down the streets of the City. Citizens shrieked and ran out of the way as the growling monster stepped through cars, elbowed his way through shops and building foundations, and shoved telephone and lightpoles off like toothpicks.

He was taking a direct path. Moving in a straight line with no decrease in his speed whatsoever. Nothing stood a chance in his way, and if anything—like a squad car—so much as tried to resist him……the damage done was with tenfold attitude.

Debris and shreds of urban earth flew.

The juggernaut surged on.

STOMP!!! STOMP!!! STOMP!!! STOMP!!!

FWOOOOOOOSH!!!

I blurred parallel to the creature on the rooftops alongside it. I panted and looked aside, attempting to match my movements with his. I leapt up onto higher rooftops, scaled buildings with blurred feet, and kept my eye constantly on the marauding creature. Moreso on the smart device in his grasp.

My black eyes narrowed.

This somehow doesn't seem right……

Slade is an intelligent terrorist, correct??

You don't send your henchman walking straight through Town with a nuclear detonator in his grasp.

Not in the middle of the day.

With the sun shining down.

No matter how monstrous the henchman is.

I ran and ran and jumped up onto a buildingtop, upon which I perched and gathered my breath.

During which……I looked down at the stomping beast.

The cars and people being scattered by his approach.

"…………"

I gazed towards the northwest.

The urban landscape grew hazy with the distance……but I had been in the City enough to know what lay ahead less than a mile away.

An elementary school……

My fingers gripped tightly to Myrkblade.

I wonder if there's a way to perform lethal sodomy on a walking mountain?

POW!!!!

"!!!!!!" I jerked.

The sound of a grappling hook…………

I looked to my left side.

CLANK!!!

A hook stuck into the building side.

A cord dangle.

Something was retracting the length of it and pulling towards the hook.

SWIIIIIIISH!!!

I gasped. I swiftly concentrated and extended a cloaking wall of murk over my body.

I turned invisible just as—

PLOP!!!

A familiar caped crusader perched on the buildingtop. He ran over to the building side and peered down at the marching behemoth. Spring air kicked at his spiked, black hair. He whipped out a yellow communicator with a Star Trek sound and spoke into it:

"Titans! Stop Cinderblock!! He's not gonna stop running otherwise!!"

Voices on the communicator squabbled back.

-Dude, where's he going?!-

-When you gotta go, you gotta go.-

"This isn't funny!" the caped one frowned. "I have no idea where he wants to go, but I do know where his path is taking him!"

-Oh no! The elementary school! The poor Earth children!!-

"So far he's made a straight line and smashed everything in his way. I seriously doubt he's gonna just walk around the school up ahead! We've got to beat him back…and now!"

-Roger that, Robin! Beast Boy! Follow me!-

The sound of an engine below.

I glanced down.

A shimmering, silver car throttled after the monster.

VRRMMMMM!!!

-On your six, Cy!-

A green albatross glided in behind the speeding vehicle.

The caped hero made to dive off the building side. "Raven, Starfire, distract him till we join you two for full firepower!"

-Didn't even need to ask…-

He pocketed his communicator, whipped out another grappling hook—POW!!—CLANK!!!—and swung off and down into the streets below.

"……………," I 'de-cloaked'. I peered down.

The swinging hero, the vehicle, and the green bird zoomed after the stomping golem.

SWOOOOSH!!!

FWOOOOOSH!!!

Two feminine forms flew high over me. I glanced up in time to see a blue, wavering figure and a streak of violet and red.

My black eyes narrowed.

The Titans?

How did the Titans know so soon about Cinderblock?

Unless……

My teeth grit.

My fists clenched.

J……

That damn little chipmunk………

The hacker tipped them in somehow.

I shook my head.

It never fails.

Oh well.

Makes life easier for me, at least. Certainly five superpowered freaks can successfully strip a single, thieving freak of his wares.

I stood up, faced east, and prepared to dash my way back to the Norman Apartments.

"………………………"

I didn't move.

"………………………"

I sighed and hung my head.

A beat.

I glanced back behind my shoulder.

Peripheral vision……

I saw five figures converging upon the granite juggernaut in Hollywood finesse……but making no impact.

I sighed.

Things are set too perfectly in motion.

Who am I to presume the flow of a ghost's domain?

Groaning, I turned around, faced west, and charged up murk.

Stop giggling, Ana.

FWOOOOOOSH!!!

I zoomed over building tops and roofs and alleyways in a streak of smoke. I hooked a left—curving southward—bending around buildings and avenues as I arched back to meet perpendicular to the action at hand.

Ceremony aside……

Gloves off………

It was time to make an entrance.

SWOOOOOOOSH!!!

I blurred up a building side.

The noise of the Titans' battle with the unstoppable cretin became more and more intense.

After dashing up the edge of the building, I backflipped and landed in a curtain of smoke. I ran to the edge of the building side and looked down. Panting.

The silvery vehicle had collapsed.

The green changeling was nowhere to be seen.

The alien girl was sprawled across the street.

The young lady in blue hovered above.

The caped crusader ran abreast the action.

And that 'action' had torn its way through a fence and was halfway through the schoolyards of the elementary pavilion. Kindergarteners and a few school attendants shrieked in horror as the monster bore down on them. The cybernetic Titan was doing his fickle best to shove the youths out of the way.

Cinderblock stomped forward. A group of helpless youths were in his way. Slowly, he started to raise his next stepping foot higher for a homicidal squash.

I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes.

"…………"

I didn't need to open my optics to feel the sense of time slowing down. Smoke was already pouring out of my lids as I blindly fell down, kicked my feet into rapid gear, and ran down the building side. I streaked onto the street level. Teleported half of my body into smoke, and practically glided a mile per second over the asphalt with Myrkblade raised over my head and whatever solid teeth I had in my being leftover gritting and--

SLASH!!!!!!

I drove all of my essence into the blade and struck at one tiny spot in the universe. One tiny spot in the universe that just happened to be Cinderblock's ankle.

I felt two things as I blurred past the spot in the schoolyards. I felt the caped Titan literally spin from the proximity of my speeding figure. And I felt the unquestionable shape of a large, granite foot fall loosely from the monster's lower limb.

FWOOOSH!!!

Time resumed. My body materialized. I found myself spun about and standing in a meditative pose on a building side across the schoolyards where I had just rocketed my smoking self. A trail of obsidian mist settled in a straight line as my 'footsteps'.

I panted.

I kept frozen in my pose.

I saw Cinderblock look at his dismembered limb confusedly.

And he wasn't alone.

My black eyes narrowed under my shades.

How could I have severed his limb??

Slade's henchman is pure stone!!

Unless……

I gulped.

It's not really Cinderblock.

"…………"

I heard the girl in blue mumble across the schoolyard: "Um……what in the world?"

The alien pointed right at me from afar. "LOOK!!"

Eyes on me.

Specifically masked eyes. A dumbfounded caped crusader in the shadow of a partially-slain foe.

I took a deep breath. I bowed my head halfway.

Light glinted off my shades.

The caped hero gasped.

No time for introductions……

FWOOOOOSH!!!!

I felt the landscape dissipate around me as I shot myself back down the building, across the schoolyards, and towards the monster.

The cyborg was pushing children and teachers out of the way: "Let's get out of here!! Go! Go!!"

RRRRRGHHH!!!!!!

I let out a silent howl. I ran and pounced onto Cinderblock. SLASH!!!! At the end of my swing, I teleported behind him with another slash. CRACK!! Then I reappeared to his side with another blow. CRACK!! Then again elsewhere. SMACK!! And again. SL-SLASH!! Again. SMACK!!

Limbs fell off of the monster. Sparkling limbs. Sparkling limbs of a robot doppelganger.

Slade was playing a trick with me. He was playing a trick with all of us. This was all supposed to have happened and yet never supposed to have happened.

Things were being put into full motion.

Full circle.

But I didn't care.

It was the death of a ghost and the birth of a union.

FW-FW-FWISH!!! I jumped off the golem's torso, flipped, and landed in front of him. Snarling, I charged a fountain of smoke into my blade and shoved it up and hard into his chest. Piercing him. Struggling to hold his humongous weight up. I gritted my teeth. I dug deeper and deeper into the yawning chest cavity of the monster. I glanced right. I saw green eyes. Red hair. The alien Titan.

The one with energy bolts………

I struggled, freed a hand, and pointed at her.

She nodded.

I glanced to my other side. I saw the cyborg. I struggled. I pointed at him.

You'd sure as Hell better have a gun on you……

The young man ran up. "All right then!!" Kl-Kl-Klak-Ka-Klak!!! He aimed a sonic cannon at the beast being skewered by me.

In my peripheral vision, I saw the caped crusader preparing a fan of explosive projectiles.

Grinning……

Well, this is easy.

Just as the blue figure floated overhead and produced a protective shield--

SNKKKKKT!!!

I ripped Myrkblade out of Cinderblock's chest.

The monster's body teetered over.

Nnnngh!!

I flexed my leg muscles. I shot myself up.

FW-FW-FW-FWISH!! I performed a spiraling slice with Myrkblade heavenward.

SLIIIINK!!!

The doppelganger's hand was sliced off. The hand with the nuclear smart device.

I descended, my body spinning. My leg sweeping out through the air……

Special delivery!!

CL-CLANK!!!

I kicked the airborn device down towards the caped hero.

PLOP!!

I landed.

CHIIIING!!!

I sheathed Myrkblade. I held my breath. I dove towards the side-----

FLASH!!!

BOOM!!!!

BOOM!!!

The future kissed me with concussion from the combined punishment of three Titans on the nearby monster.

I fell to the floor and spun pleasantly into darkness.

The wind had been knocked out of me and my brain went with it.

KO………

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

Sometime, I was aware of lying in Titans Tower's infirmary.

Sometime, I was aware of stirring in my medical bed.

My shades were off.

My body ached all over.

I was in a strange place and yet a warm place all the same.

I felt that I was going to collapse again.

The world under my eyelids turned twice as onyx.

With a shuddering sigh, I reached two delirious hands up into the air and hand-signed to nobody and nothing.

Strangers all alike.

'Did someone forget the holy water?'

My last thoughts were on J.

I speculated on whether I would see him again or not.

What he must have been thinking about me now.

The children at the Norman Apartments and their red ball.

The smell of salt in the air.

Ana trying on a summer frock.

Cedar trees……

And…

I slept.

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

The Zanzibar piers blended into the night.

Black warehouses bordered by black docks over black waters of the Bay.

It looked to me like a good summer home.

But I had very little time for amused thought.

I sat perched…..and cloaked…..atop a docked boat several feet away. I awaited the one soul I had blurredly circumnavigated.

"……………"

Vrmmmmmmmm……

Robin's R-Cycle coasted into view. It rolled to a gentle stop on the outskirts of the lot surrounding the warehouses. Robin was very slow and methodical about the way he parked…the way he stood up off his bike….the way he slipped off his helmet and embraced the night………

It was too liquid for the real McCoy.

"…………..," my black eyes narrowed.

I kept my vision trained on the 'Boy Wonder'. He slowly snuck his way towards the center of the three Zanzibar warehouses. He slid along the blackest walls that formed the side. He approached a window, reached into his utility belt, and produced expert materials for use in opening the latch of the window from the outside in.

I took a deep breath.

Well……at least he has the intelligence and tenacity of 'Robin'.

I knew that it would only be a matter of time before the caped hero entered the warehouse. I also knew that I could quite possibly enter it faster. I hopped off the boat and landed nimbly on the docks. I took a deep breath. I concentrated. I cloaked myself with a shroud of murk. I crept forward on silent feet.

'Robin' was oblivious to me as I snuck past his rear and approached a window on the west side of the warehouse. I reached my hand up and felt for cracks and fissures in the window frame. Once I found one, I meditated, summoned a pulse of murk, and teleported myself through and inside…

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

FWOOOSH!!!!

I landed on the ground in a crouch and materialized immediately.

Panting.

It was dark.

I sensed I was in a closet or alcove of sorts.

Metal racks of canvass-covered items rested around and on either side of me.

"……….."

There was a sliver of light on the far end of the alcove. I sensed a cracked door leading towards a dimly-lit, large interior of the warehouse. And beyond it were voices….

I took a deep breath.

I crept forward.

Myrkblade brushed up against something.

I paused. I looked right.

The hilt of my blade had caught a strap of canvass covering a pile of something on a metal rack. Actually, somethings. Small black canisters of somethings with detonators.

I exhaled.

Carbonite……

I turned and face the cracked door again.

I crept towards it.

The slit of light glinted off my shades.

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

I was cloaked again when I entered the interior.

My black eyes scanned the floor.

Six men were gathered around a circle with two lamps on opposite sides of the room casting a lukewarm light.

They seemed in the middle of some sort of important, impromptu meeting.

Gotta love coincidences……

They looked like everyday people. Men in their twenties and thirties. Clean cut. Well shaved. Clothes neither refined or impoverished. I counted three jackets for autumn's cold night and two pairs of shades for no reason save for suspiciousness itself.

"….—not a rumor, but the truth. I've got an inside ear with my buddies up the street. The whole police department is in a buzz!"

"Yeah, but for what?"

"The H.I.V.E. bitch, dumbass! They're bringing her all the way here from Metropolis!"

"Looks like Decker is getting his prize after all."

"Does he seriously think she's going to say anything about what happened at the Omega Wing?"

"She'll tell eventually. She's a liability."

"It's not like she ever helped in operations."

"That's besides the point…."

"………," I felt vulnerable standing at their level. I glanced up. There were wooden crossbeams stretching over the interior. I headed towards a far wall, blurred up it in a blink, and perched myself invisibly on a crossbeam. I took a moment to breathe, meditate, and maintain my strenuous cloak. I relaxed. I crawled over till I was nearly over their heads and listened in…

"…she was a part of everything once before. But when the shit royally hit the fan, we had to lose a lot of loose ends. She was the loosest of them all."

"Funny, I could have sworn Anderson—"

"Anderson is dead. Let it rest."

"I'm trying to make a point here! Yes, Anderson is dead! But that Headmistress is alive! That's sorta breaking a pattern."

"Don't worry."

"What the Hell do you mean, 'Don't worry'?"

"The pattern will continue. Just you wait."

"What makes you say that? Word of mouth?"

"Heh…..not in this case."

"Huh?"

"Listen everyone…what really matters here is that ever since explosion, people have been anxious. Too anxious for our own good. Not only is Decker pushing his whole department into overdrive, but the Titans are also becoming more and more hardcore about patrolling this City. People are waking up. And we can't stay in the middle of it for much longer."

"What of the rogues?"

"The rogues?"

"Yeah…."

"You mean Jinx and the two others? I think we have worse to worry about right now."

"What do the Titans know? They've been thrown for loops before, and look! Sure enough…..it's happening again!"

A voice from the shadows droned: "Not tonight….."

Naturally, the six men gasped and spun to look. Half of them had pistols raised and pointing.

FWOOOSH!!! 'Robin' plopped down from a high point much like mine. He crouched from the impact then slowly stood up. He didn't have a single weapon drawn.

I watched warily from the crossbeams.

"You know lots of important information," Robin spoke monotonously as he slowly marched towards the six men. "Information about the prison bombing. About the fissure at H.I.V.E. And about terrorist interests in this City."

The men trained their weapons on the boy.

"Okay, freak. One more step and your head gets a 'fissure'! Hell, I just may shoot you no matter what you do!"

"What are you waiting for?! Blast his brains out!!"

"No! Don't!! H-He may have buddies of his in the shadows!!"

"The Titans?!!?!"

"………," I narrowed my eyes.

The boy was talking like Robin. He stood with clenched fists like Robin. But he didn't seem to care about the weapons aimed at him. He wasn't readying himself in any sort of battle preparation. He hadn't sprung into action or pounced on anyone or--

"The Titans are safe…," the boy slurred. "The last place they would ever be is here. After all, you would blow them sky high with all the carbonite you have."

"How…..H-How did he…..??"

"Look, Boy Wonder….if we wanted to blow you and your teammates up to high heaven, we would have done so long ago." C-Click! A thug cocked his pistol. "This City isn't yours. Not like you think. Not like you're going to die for."

Robin's eyemask narrowed. "Are you certain you know who it is you're talking to?"

"…….."

The foremost thug walked forward with his pistol raised. "Okay, kid. Enough games. Tell us once and for all. Are you alone?"

Robin pointed at his face. "Look into my eyes when you ask that."

The thug's eyes thinned.

Robin stared.

The thug stared.

A numb pause…

FLASH!!!!

There was a pulse of green light.

The thug jerked in place and was still.

"Nnngh….," Robin uttered in a zombie fashion. His neck teetered limply and he fell to the floor, asleep. PLOP!!!

My jaw dropped.

The Boy Wonder lay limp on the ground.

In the meantime, the thug was frozen……aiming his pistol at naked air.

Another crook panted. "What…..Wh-What in the hell??"

"……..," the foremost gunman was silent.

"Ted?! Did you shoot him?! It looks like he just collapsed from a stroke or something!!"

"I…..," the gunman blinked. "…..I-I can't move."

"Ted??"

"Oh God!!!!" the gunman spun around suddenly….and aimed his gun at the others.

"!!!!!"

BANG!!!! B-BANG!!!

CLANK!! One pistol flew out of a man's hand.

SLINK!!! A second bullet grazed another's ankle. "Augh!!" He slumped to the floor.

"TED!! THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!"

"I-I….I can't stop!!! Somebody help me!!!" the man cackled while at the same time he madly swept the pistol across the room.

BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!!

The five crooks ducked and threw themselves to the floor. One dove suicidally at the gunman's feet and tackled him. TH-THWUMP!!!

They fell across the hard ground.

"Ooof!!"

"Nnngh!!!"

The gunman's body rolled across the floor unnaturally. He panted and aimed the gun at the tackler's forehead.

"Ted, knock it OFF!!!" he batted the gun out of the man's hand. CLANK!! He pounced on his chest and practically gripped his neck, nostrils flaring. "The Hell has gotten into you!!"

"I….I…."

The man yanked Ted's face up towards his. He frowned at him as they stared at each other nose to nose. "Give me one reason not to slit your damn throat right now!!"

Suddenly, Ted gasped. His eyes twitched.

The tackling thug's gaze narrowed.

And….

FLASH!!!!!

The tackler blinked.

Ted suddenly let out a huge sigh and slumped his head back to the floor. "I….I….It's over now…."

WHAM!!!!!

Ted went out cold as the tackling thug slammed his face in with a knuckle sandwich.

The man stood up swiftly. There was a look of horror on his face. "Holy shit!! What's happening?!?!"

Three of the other four men stood up, panting. The fourth man lay on the ground clutching a bloody ankle.

"Brandon?? Did you need to hit Ted so hard---?!?!"

SWOOSH!! The man reached over and grabbed a crowbar off a metal rack. He spun around with it gripped strongly in his hands. "Guys!! Look out—" SWIIIISH!! He tossed the metal projectile.

WHAM!!! It struck one of the thugs dead in the chest. He bent over and wheezed for breath.

"Brandon?!?!"

"He's gone insane too!!"

"Get ahold of yourself!!"

The two thugs standing rushed him.

Panting, the man found himself picking up a wooden crate. "No!! Wait!!" He trembled as he held the object over his head and tossed it at the incoming two. "It's not me!! Dammit!!!"

WOOOSH!! CRASH!! The crate exploded against one of the two thugs. "Augh!!!"

The last ran with gritting teeth and threw his fist at Brandon's head.

The man ducked the punch and expertly countered with an elbow to the attacker's chin. He then gripped the man's shoulder and slammed him against a nearby wall.

"Guys!! Knock me out!! Punch me unconscious or something!!" Brandon sweated. He marched over towards a wall and grabbed an axe out of a firebox. "Something's happening to me!!"

The thug hit in the stomach with the crowbar stumbled back up to his feet. "You're so full of shit, man!!"

"Oh god…," Brandon walked towards a lump of canvass-covered objects at the side of the warehouse. "The equipment!! Someone stop me!!"

"Brandon!! You idiot!!" the ankle-bleeding thug winced. "He'll kill us all if you ruin that!! You too!!"

"AAAAUGH!!! NO!!!!" the man lifted the axe and proceeded to hack into the canvass and shred apart the instruments inside. CRACK!!! THWACK!!! CRUNCH!!!

"Damn you!!" the crook struck with the crate limped up to his feet, scooped up a deflected pistol, and cocked it.

CRACK!!! Brandon chopped with the axe one last time. He turned and looked at the crook, panting.

The thug aimed the gun at him.

Brandon's eyes were wide.

The thug's optics twitched.

FLASH!!!!

Brandon slumped against the handle of the stuck axe.

"………..," the gunman blinked. A beat. He raised the pistol suddenly towards the ceiling. BLAM!!!!

The bullet whizzed by me. I flinched.

The gunshot struck its target. And the target turned out to be an aluminum chain support for a rack of electronic equipment above Brandon.

CLANK!!!

CRASSSSH!!!!

The devices tumbled down in a waterfall of chaotic debris that rolled off the axe-chopped objects and slammed into Brandon.

"OOF!!" the man fell down.

The gunman gasped as he suddenly pivoted and shot at random materials in storage, damaging them far beyond immaculateness.

BLAM!! BL-BLAM!! BLAM!!!

CRASH!! SMASH!!!

"Now he's going nuts!!" the bleeding man shouted.

The other thug from across the warehouse got up, clutching his side. Frowning, he ran across the warehouse and pounced on the gunman. "NNNNGH!!!"

WHUMP!!!

The two rolled across the floor, wrestling.

The gunman ended up on top of the other thug.

They struggled in each other's grip.

Their eyes locked.

And….

FLASH!!!!!

A pause of breath or something else.

The thug's legs lifted and kicked the gunman off him.

THWOOOSH!!!

"WAAAAAAUGH!!!" the gunman's body flailed as he arced through the air and landed in a painful collapse across the bleeding thug's body.

THWUMP!!!

"Nnnghhhhh….."

Both were out like a light.

The last thug stood up, panting. "Oh god…..Oh god….Oh god……Oh god….."

His breath was erratic. The expression of his face and the sound of his voice went against his actions. And his actions consisted of marching over to a table, grabbing a baseball bat, and continuing to smash canvass-covered equipment and electronic devices.

SMASH!!! THWACK!!! CRASH!!!

"Brandon?! Reynolds?! Ted?!?! Somebody!! Anybody!!"

SMACK!!! CRACK!!! WHACK!!

"Help me! P-Please!! I can't stop!! I-I can't….."

His body turned and approached a conspicuous pile of devices on the corner.

"Oh god….not the detonators!! STOP ME!! PLEASE!!!"

I had very little pity for the insane man dancing about destructively below me. I had very little sense either because I didn't know what the hell was going on. The one impulse that struck my head was that—regardless of any explanation—this man (and all others before him) was destroying evidence. And he was quite possibly on the verge of destroying the most important evidence of all.

So I pounced.

FWOOOOSH!!!!

His head tilted up in one single gasp.

SLAAAAASH!!!

CHIING!!

Myrkblade sliced his baseball bat in half.

He stumbled back, holding a wooden stub.

I landed, blurred my lower limbs, and swept a leg out.

WHUMP!!! I tripped him. His body fell to the earth.

I spun, pivoted, and slammed my foot into his airborne side.

THWAP!!!

He ragdolled across the floor, grunting.

TH-THWISH!! I twirled Myrkblade and dashed towards him.

The man stumbled up.

Teeth gritting, I slammed the broadside of my sword against his rib cage.

WHAM!!

"OOOF!!!" He exhaled harshly, bending over.

I spun. I readied my foot. I held my breath.

WHAM!!!!

I uppercutted him hard in the forehead with the sole of my boot…a blow that would knock any mortal unconscious.

And indeed, the man fell back across the cold, slippery floor. THWUMP!!

And to my utter shock….he was still twitching.

"?!?!?" I wasted no time. I ran. I dove. I landed on top of him, pinning him to the floor. I slammed the hilt of Myrkblade into his chest.

WHAM!!!

He jolted.

I slammed it into his ribcage.

THWACK!!!

He jerked.

I raised the hilt of Myrkblade again and prepared to give his skull a knock out punch--

'J'

I froze.

'J'

I blinked.

The man's unconscious right arm was lifted in the air. The three middle fingers were curled with the thumb wrapping over them and the pinky hooked outward.

'J'

My gaze narrowed on the silent man's body beneath me.

I exhaled.

What in the Hell???

SLAM!!!

I blinked.

SLAM!!!

I looked to my left.

SLAM!!!

Something was denting the warehouse wall inward from the outside.

SMASH!!!!!

A hole shattered open.

A raging beast stormed through. Cloud white eyes. Silver, armored plates. Two pointy horns. It took one look at me and flexed its muscular, furred arms.

"Nnnnnnghhhh!!!!"

My jaw dropped.

Wildebeest?!?!?!

STOMP!!! STOMP!!! STOMP!!

He charged forward, bent down, and backhanded me with a mountain of muscle.

WHAM!!!!

I flew off, spiraling across the claustrophobic air. Somewhere in the middle of my flight I blurred murk, shifted my flailing position in midair, and guided my feet flat against the inner wall of the warehouse. Smoke energy clung me to the surface as I spiraled Myrkblade into position and gritted my teeth, glaring at the invader across the way.

FWOOOOOOSH!!!! I kicked off the wall and flew at the monstrosity.

RRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

WHAM!!!! I slammed Myrkblade across his face. SMACK!!! I drew the sword back, impacting the opposite side of his skull. THWACK!!! I uppercutted him with the blade.

Wildebeest stumbled back, his cranium jerking about from my advancing punishment.

THWACK!!! WHAM!!! POW!!!

I spiraled three hundred and sixty degrees and slammed Myrkblade hard into his chest.

WHAM!!!

He flew back against the wall. He shook his head and growled.

I twirled Myrkblade and charged him blurredly. FWOOOOOSH!!!

He raised a fist.

WHAM!!!

My head ran into his knuckles.

My dashing legs slipped out and up from beneath me.

GRIP!!!

He grabbed me by my ankles.

"Nnnnghhh!!!"

He slammed me like a caveman's club against a metal rack of detonators.

CLANG!!!

And onto the floor.

WHACK!!!

I winced.

He raised his other fist to squash me.

I jabbed Myrkblade into his wrist.

CL-CLANK!! It impacted against his hard fur and skin.

He let go of me, wincing.

I held my breath and teleported myself up into and around him in a puff of smoke. I materialized with my back against the wall and my feet shoving against his shoulderblades.

TWHUMP!!!

He stumbled forward.

I fell to the ground with a heavy swing of Myrkblade to the back of his skull.

WHAM!!!!

He tumbled into a wooden table and bent over.

I dashed at his backside.

Wildebeest growled and spun with a heavy fist.

WHAM!!!

I was blown across the warehouse.

THWUMP!! My back slammed against the wall.

I winced.

TH-THWACK!!!

I gasped as I felt two piercing horns slice into the wall on either side of me.

Wildebeest had charged and headbutted the side of the warehouse. I was now pinned to the wall between his horns and forehead.

I fought and struggled in vain to get loose.

Before I could possibly teleport out--

GRIP!!!

His meaty hand encircled my torso.

Cr-Crack!!

He pulled his horns out, lifted his torso, and lifted my body in turn.

Snarling and breathing heatedly through his nostrils, he brought his hands up so that they wrapped around my neck.

I dropped Myrkblade and struggled against his furred fingers. I wheezed and struggled for breath while dangling.

Wildebeest's cloudy-white eyes narrowed menacingly.

He exhaled a grunt.

He started to apply pressured.

I lost my breath.

"………"

A shrill whistle.

The pressure lessened.

Wildebeest blinked. He looked down.

I panted. I looked down as well.

J stood looking up at us. A few months older than when I last saw him. Severe shadows different under his green eyes and blonde brow. But still no taller and still no thicker. The sight of his pure green eyes was hideously innocent among the quieting chaos of this destructive setting. The body of the last thug I had pounced on lay still by his feet.

I narrowed my black eyes.

How did he get in here?!?!

He hand-signed at me.

No……not at me……

I looked at Wildebeest.

The behemoth grunted as if in contention with the little boy. His eyes were thin from a furrowed brow.

I looked at J and found him hand-signing the same message again.

'Let him go.'

A beat.

Wildebeest whinnied. His hands released….

THWUMP!!!

I fell to the floor. I coughed, wheezed, and sputtered. I fell back and gathered my breath. My sides ached….big time.

Footsteps.

I looked up.

J stood above me. He stared. Blinking those green eyes. J's choice in clothes seemed darker than what I remembered. And a trace of loneliness in his youthful complexion seemed edgier. More rigid. Something that could slice mountains without a sound.

I merely panted. My shaded eyes weak.

An awkward shade of yesterday…..

He looks more noirish than I ever did.

He hand-signed: 'Please do not follow us, old friend.'

I raised my eyebrows.

Wildebeest was stomping his way towards the hole in the warehouse wall. J was backing up slowly to join him. The beast waited for his small companion at the exit.

'My job here is finished for now. Stay with Robin. He needs you.'

I managed to hand-sign back: 'What are you doing here?? What is it that you, Jinx, and Pulsade want?'

He replied. And when he did so, his face was deadpan. Changed. Absent of the joyful little boy of very recent 'olde'.

'I cannot tell you. But I assure you, someday you will know. But hopefully then it will not be bloody lesson.'

'Bloody?'

'Red, Noir. Red.' He took a deep breath and walked over to Wildebeest.

Wildebeest gave J a boost, and soon the boy was perched on his hairy shoulder. The beast protectively held J in place, all the while giving me an unforgettable glare. He exhaled through his nostrils and stomped out of the warehouse and into the darkness of night beyond.

I was far too beat to possibly give chase.

Besides….

I heard a stirring sound.

A….whimpering….stirring sound.

I looked to my left.

I took a sharp breath.

Robin was coming to.

And he was shivering all over.

Wincing, I practically dragged myself over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Robin gasped. He sat up halfway. His eyemask was around and….there was moisture on the edges.

His lips quivered.

"It's gone……"

"……………."

"I…..I'm…….," he hugged himself. He shivered. "So cold…..so damn cold….." He shook his head and shuddered. There was a cracking sensation to his voice. Like a creaky lid to a bird cage sliding shut. "I had it….and then I lost it again. The warmth. It's g-gone. Starfire…..Starfire please….." He ran a gloved hand over his face and shuddered. "So cold……so….c-cold……"

The Boy Wonder began to shake and sob. The Titan Leader was crumbling before me.

I took a deep breath. I wasn't Starfire. I wasn't a girl. I was just a young man with a sword. So I did the best thing a young man with a sword could do.

I looked away….and said nothing.

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

Hours later….

Police squad cars gathered around the Zanzibar piers. The thugs from within the warehouse—in various conditions of bruises—were lead into police vans for relocation. Investigators filed in and out and around the structure. Robin and I were nowhere to be seen, but four of the other Titans were there. Chiefly speaking, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, and Tempest.

Cyborg was busy speaking to Commissioner Decker at the scene.

"Noir returned Robin to the Tower shortly after we got here. Our leader's doing fine from what we heard. We're all still in the gray area concerning just what in the heck happened to him. Last time I checked, he didn't want to be talked to."

"And the smokester?"

"Noir went out into the City on his own," Cyborg muttered. "He didn't say where he was going."

"You don't sound so enthused."

"I'm acting leader of the Titans at the moment," Cyborg shrugged. "I feel like I have all of this on my shoulders. Problem is, I don't know exactly what this is."

"You don't say," Decker puffed on a cigarette, swiveled about, and pointed at the centermost warehouse. "Imagine bushels of carbonite explosives, detonators for all of them piled high on top of each other, smart devices for other explosives, and even a crate or two of high-tech, smuggled laser rifles to boot."

Cyborg whistled. "Now there's a jackpot."

"And you're tellin' me that the Boy Whoopass found this place out and smacked the thugs all in his sleep?!?!" Decker cackled.

Cyborg winced. "That…..still remains to be debated."

"The Hell does that mean??"

"Look, Commissioner….there's been a lot of confusing things going on…," Cyborg shrugged. "Give us a break, alright? We've been working hard around the clock to figure out the loose ends of this explosive conspiracy. The fact that this warehouse was found practically overnight shocks us as much as it shocks you. But personally….I don't give a damn. It's pulling us in the right direction. Now what's there to be frustrated about that?"

A beat.

Decker smirked. "Absolutely nothing at all. This development is the third best thing God sent to earth following Jesus Christ and mammary glands. I'm just wondering how the little tights-wearing shrimp did it, is all!"

"You're gonna have to wait for another time, Commissioner," Cyborg sighed. "Maybe when the Headmistress of H.I.V.E. gets here…we can cross examine her for information that could shed some light on why……all of this is here."

"Well, I'm sure as Hell cross-examining someone," Decker flicked his cigarette and grinded it into the ground with his shoe. "Especially after what we found in the shadowy goons' closet."

Cyborg raised a human eyebrow. "Why? What is it that you found?"

Decker looked up. Deadpan. "Three and a half cartons of illegal Dragonflare."

"……..," Cyborg blinked. "Dragonflare?"

Decker nodded.

"Like the stuff the guys working for Dagger were once addicted to?"

"The same crap."

Cyborg looked off towards some distant horizon. "What's up with that?"

"Hell if I know, Cypress."

"Cyborg."

"But believe you me….we're gonna get to the bottom of it," Decker put on a haunting smile. "If both my department and your Titans get this lucky by accident….imagine how many results we'll get when we're actually accomplishing something?"

"Yeah….imagine that…."

The lieutenant rushed forward from the squad-car-lit background. "Uhm….sir? We've got a message for you."

"Found something else in that rathole?"

"No sir. It's about the Headmistress' transport here. State trooper's radio signal."

"Ah. Stuff I'd like to hear, I bet," Decker put on a smug smile. He waved at Cyborg. "Catch up to you in a minute, robo-kid. I gotta take this." He walked off with his lieutenant. "Patch me through to the squad car."

"Yes, sir."

Cyborg sighed, stared at the warehouse, and rubbed the human half of his skull.

Raven walked over. "I checked with Starfire over the communicator," she droned. "Robin is fully awake and in good health."

"Yeah…," Cyborg mumbled. "How about good state of mind?"

Raven blinked. "He's being his usual……….edgy self."

"Well, that's a good thing…..I think," Cyborg remarked.

"If it helps you feel solaced at all," Raven gestured. "The presence that was in Robin since last night…I did not sense it in him when Noir returned him to the Tower."

"So….he really is back to 'Robin', huh?"

"Correct."

"But it's just so creepy….," Cyborg shuddered. "None of us could tell that he was being….b-being controlled! He was acting like the Robin we all know!"

"Because for the most part he was the Robin we all know," Raven said. "Whatever entity possessed him, it was taking a very passive role. Essentially 'nesting' inside of Robin and only controlling him when it knew that Robin wouldn't be conscious of the manipulation."

"Like in his sleep….," Cyborg said.

Raven nodded. "Including when Robin ventured forth to the Zanzibar Piers. Our leader was asleep. I believe it was only at that time that the entity could control his voice."

"Noir says it was 'J' the whole time…," Cyborg spoke. He frowned. "The computer hacker is….also capable of telepathic manipulation or something?"

"I think he is merely an astral projector and possessor," Raven spoke. "He can lose bodily form and inhabit another's fleshly shell. It may be a talent of 'J'. When I was in Azarath, there were some acolytes who practiced to master the art without much success. Nobody could have predicted that 'J' was in Robin."

"Except you and Noir," Cyborg smirked. "You know, it never fails."

Raven lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

The android shook his head. "Never mind. I'm just glad that Robin's back to being Robin. Now we can make real progress with the material we have available to us."

"You must admit….," Raven folded her arms. "As much as 'J' took control of our leader under our very noses, he did help us immensely."

"You mean with all this carbonite and weaponry and Dragonflare and stuff?"

Raven nodded.

Cyborg shrugged: "Yeah…but why? First 'J' helped you and Robin find Noir at the Academy. Then this thing with the investigation. It seems too good to be true. What if we're being manipulated again?"

"If this is the 'J' we're all thinking of, he's allied with Jinx and Pulsade," Raven droned. "Both of those girls spared Noir's life on a couple of occasions. I may be going out on a limb here….but I think they are awkwardly benevolent in this case."

Cyborg smirked. "Gee, Rae…..that's the most optimistic thing about pure strangers I've heard you say ever."

"Yes," Raven nodded. "It's a disgusting habit."

Cyborg chuckled. "You're cute when you're confused."

Raven frowned. "I'm not the one confused."

"Well I'm not the one who's cute!"

Raven's eyes trailed. A slight smirk.

Cyborg blinked.

"Ask her out for a sundae!!" Beast Boy cackled from the distance.

Cyborg spun. "Man, shut up dawg!!"

Tempest and Beast Boy laughed.

Cyborg fumed.

Raven was covering her mouth.

"What's up with you?" Cyborg stared down at her.

"Even a dark mind like mine wanders," she said, her feather-light smirk fading.

Cyborg sighed. "As long as it's just your mind."

Just then, Commissioner Decker walked back up. But something was different. His gait was sluggish. His face was pale.

Cyborg's lips parted. "Commish….what's up? You look dead."

"……..," Decker ran a stressed hand over a cold brown and sighed.

Raven blinked. "Something happened……"

Decker slowly nodded.

Cyborg leaned forward. "The caravan from Metropolis….," the android muttered.

Decker swallowed. He said: "When it rains, it shits…."

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

I looked all over the City for 'J' and Wildebeest.

I blurred through the alleyways, streets, and courtyards.

I ran up building sides, perched on rooftops, and scanned the urban sprawl with wide black eyes.

The boy was nowhere to be found. Neither was his furred friend.

The search went on for an hour….two hours….three….

I felt almost as exhausted as Robin. But perhaps I had been asleep all along. I didn't care.

I couldn't find J…and for that, I felt like a failure.

My sprinting turned into lethargic walking.

I found myself drifting through graveyards of my mind.

The L-Train track.

The old bazaars under nightfall.

The basketball courts and the abandoned construction sites.

I couldn't bear to walk within eyesight of the Norman Apartments, so instead I turned south.

I walked and walked and found myself coming to a tired stop in front of a familiar structure.

A seven-story, abandoned apartment structure.

Wooden boards stretching over the black window frames.

Empty, dusty, dead.

"………"

I slowly, sluggishly walked in.

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

The steps were as decrepit as ever.

The newspaper scraps and blanket fragments lingered in the corners of the stairwells as I marched my creaking way upwards.

There were no sleeping bums this time.

It felt as if the population of the world died since the last time I was there.

The creaking stopped as I stopped and the ascent stopped.

"…….."

I peered into a familiar hallway.

A beat.

I walked down it.

I turned into the room.

The room where once there were candles, a cot, and laptops.

Now there were none.

It looked as dead and dry as the rest of the building.

"……………."

I exhaled.

A beat.

I turned around.

I faced the hallway.

I began to march my way down.

………….piano music.

I stopped.

I craned my neck.

………..soft, piano music.

I turned and gazed at the lonely stairs leading up into the loft above.

Music drifted down.

Sacred and lonely.

"…………"

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

I walked up the stairs.

It was almost pitch black in the room, save for two streams of moonlight wafting in through the spaces between the window boards. The moonlight streams settled on the unmistakable blondeness of J. The boy sat at the dusty piano, playing a melancholy tune. Patiently.

"…………" I stared at him. My gaze thinned beneath my shades. I glanced left somewhat.

There was a huge furry mass in the darkest corner besides J. A furry mass with heavy, muscular arms. It glared at me, nostrils gently flaring.

"…………."

I took a deep breath and looked at J again.

The petite young man finished the last keystroke and sat back. A beat. He sighed, faced me, and hand-signed: 'I knew that you would come here.'

I glanced at Wildebeest in the dark. I glanced back at J. I gestured:

'So you were looking for me the whole time? Not the other way around?'

He merely shrugged.

Silence.

He stood up. He quietly shuffled forward a few steps. He came to a stop six feet away from me.

"…….," he stared at me.

"……," I tilted my head down to meet his gaze.

He took a deep breath and gestured: 'I had to do it. I was not going to hurt Robin in any way. You were there at the warehouse. You saw how Robin was safe.'

I hand-signed swiftly back: 'He may have been safe. But he was still in danger.' I glared.

J swallowed. He replied: 'I was afraid that you would disagree.'

'You were afraid??' I emphatically gestured back. 'What did you expect? Robin is my leader. He is my friend. He has entrusted me as his number two subordinate. His security means the Titan's security and that means a lot to me.'

J shook his head. He had an expression that was somewhere between pride and sorrow. 'You have changed so much, Noir.'

I raised an eyebrow.

'Look at you,' he pointed. 'At one time, you wanted nothing to do with the Titans. You could care less about being a superhero for the entire City. You would rather have died than work with others. But now….' His gesturing lingered off. His green eyes fell on my left arm.

I curled metal fingers.

I shivered once, but hid it as I gestured: 'Are you supposed to be happy now? Did I do all that you wanted of me, J? I chose to stay with the Titans.'

'Why?'

"…………."

'Why?'

"………..," I took a deep breath. 'Probably because I am stupid.'

J smiled. 'I do not think it is stupidity. I believe that you have found a family.'

'Well maybe I have,' I hand-signed. 'But I do not find a family by controlling the members in it. But rather, I give myself up for them the moment I can.'

'Do you think I am without sacrifice too, Noir?' J hand-signed. 'Do you know how dangerous it was to help Robin—'

I practically snarled. I hand-signed in a flurry: 'Stop saying that you helped us!!'

'But I did—'

'No you did not!!' I gestured. 'Controlling is never helping.'

'The situation at hand is most dire!' he signed.

I took a deep breath. 'Do you know who last controlled Robin like that? It was Slade.'

J recoiled sharply as if stabbed in the gut. He trembled all over.

I seethed. I meant for that last statement to be emphatic. I didn't mean for it to have that intense of an impact.

J looked on the verge of tears. A horrific expression washed over his face as I imagined his brain and heart boiling together into a sickly compound.

Wildebeest shifted nervously in the corner, not sure whether or not J was in legitimate duress.

I took the chance to twist the dagger: 'It was Slade that controlled Robin, J. He did the same to Terra. He did the same to me. And on all three, disastrous occasions he controlled the Titans. And he controlled the City. Do you want to prove yourself as a benevolent spirit, J? Fast using those powers of yours. The more you use them, the more you are like Slade. And that is just plain pathetic, considering how much you obsessed with him and now he is dead.'

J swallowed a lump in his scarred throat and hand-signed shakily: 'I know he is dead. Because you killed him.'

I stared silently.

His lips quivered. He strengthened his posture and signed: 'You have a dark side, Noir. I never saw it before. At a time, I thought your past did not matter. I still do not know anything about you. I do not know what Slade sought to manipulate and Dagger sought to control. But there is something quintessential of death in you. And you wielded death in such a way that Slade could not compare at the time.'

'Slade is gone. He brought himself his own end. Is that not what you wanted?'

'I do not blame you for choosing to kill Slade,' J hand-signed. 'But Noir….think about it….'

"…….," I blinked.

J's eyes were round and glisteningly green. He gestured: 'What went through your mind, Noir?'

"………"

'What went through your mind the moment you killed Slade?'

"…….."

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

SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!

I drove Myrkblade into Slade.

To the hilt.

I leaned my head over his shoulder.

My lips parted.

I breathed through them……

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

'I…..," I started hand signing. A beat. I swallowed.

"……," J stared.

Wildebeest's cloudy eyes loomed in the corner.

I took a breath. 'I….I was thinking about my friends.'

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

"Snkkkkkk…..y-you are a ffffffool, Noir. Hckkkk!!…O-Only fools tear themselvessssss up for friends. Only f-fools………"

I panted over Slade's shoulder.

My naked black eyes picked up the Titans in their torture chairs.

All of them gazing at me.

Helpless.

I swallowed.

I gripped Myrkblade.

More breaths filtered through my lips.

Twitching optics.

And……

SLAAAASH!!!!

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

'I thought about their safety. About all the hell Slade had put them through. How much I wanted to save them….'

My hands fell.

Silence.

J slowly hung his head. He shook it. He looked back up and hand-signed: 'That is not true and you know it.'

"……….."

'Do not tell me you forget, Noir,' he gestured. 'Certainly you know what you felt. Surely you know what you gave Slade. How could you forget the wrath and anger of Death itself?'

I made a face. I hand-signed: 'You know nothing.'

'Do I not?' J gestured. 'You must believe me. Jinx and Pulsade and I….we are working in places you have not begun to imagine yet. Such dark, scary places.'

'I am not a stranger to those….'

J slowly nodded. 'And I think Slade found that out.'

"………"

The boy glanced over his shoulder. He whistled.

Wildebeest marched menacingly into the slits of moonlight.

I held my position firmly.

J turned to face me. Wounded, lonely green eyes. He gestured: 'We are both going to reunite with the girls. We will be watching you and the Titans.'

'Somehow I do not doubt that,' I gestured. 'Tell me, J. Are you a superhero now?'

He stared at me for a few seconds before somberly shaking his head and gesturing: 'I am a ghost.'

My lips parted.

J slowly turned about and walked down the steps like a small corpse. Wildebeest protectively took up the rear, glaring at me a warning as he did so.

"…….," I stared. Soon I was alone with the piano. The dead and dusty voice of J.

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

"Raaugh!!"

THWAP!!!

"HA-TAA!!"

SMACK!!!

"RRGHHH!!"

WHAM!!!

The noise rang through the Titan's gym, intermittently connected by panting and gasps.

Slowly, Starfire floated in and hovered at the doorway. She leaned a pensive hand on the frame and worriedly glanced in. After a pause, she swallowed and murmured: "R-Robin? There is a message f-from Cyborg."

"YAAAUGH!!" Robin spun and slammed his knee into the punching bag. Sweating all over, he paced himself in place and performed two heavy jabs. "HAA!! YAAAUGH!!"

WHAP!! SM-SMACK!!

Starfire blinked. "They….Th-They are taking the T-Car to the Metropolitan Highway. Decker's contacts told him that something bad happened to the Headmistress' caravan."

"RRRRRRRGH!!!" Robin jabbed the punching bag hard. WHAM!!! He leaned against it, panting. Sweating. Panting some more. He swallowed and nodded with a thin eyemask. "Okay, Starfire. Thanks for the update."

"They…Th-They say that the news reported by Decker's men are most distressing and it may be a while before they arrive at—"

"Look, I heard you the first time, OKAY?!?!" Robin growled. "Will you please…j-just….leave me alone?!?! Do you have any idea…ANY idea how much I nearly lost it back at that warehouse?!?!"

Starfire cringed. Her face tensed and moisture formed at the corners of her green eyes. "I….I-I am exceedingly sorry, Robin. You n-need your time to recover. I shall endeavor t-to leave you be…."

Robin took a breath and kicked the punching bag hard. SMACK!!!

Starfire turned around, hugging herself. She sighed and drifted towards the Tower's hallway--

"Starfire……."

The Tamaranian froze. Weakly, she turned around and gazed at him.

Robin was hunched over against the punching bag. His back was to her. His head hung.

In between panting breaths, he spoke: "The first time…..I ever battled the Scarecrow, I was twelve years old. I had just recently joined Batman as Robin. I hadn't been the Boy Wonder for more than three months. Batman, Batgirl, and I stormed in on the Scarecrow's headquarters. I thought the creep was a cakewalk to beat. In the ensuing battle, I ran straight towards him. Fists throwing. I was brash and reckless. I planned to land him in one punch. I didn't. He whipped out a canister of fear gas and tossed it at my feet. I inhaled it in a single gasp. The fight was barely twenty seconds in the making and already I was a liability."

Robin stood up straight, his back still to Starfire. His gloved fists hung tightly at his side.

"Scarecrow was defeated, but it was not the end of our ordeal. I was hallucinating for three solid days and nights. I had to be strapped down to a special bed in the Batcave's infirmary. I would scream at the top of my lungs because I saw unimaginable things tearing my intestines out with my eyes opened or closed. I called out for….f-for my mom and dad. For people I only knew of in name but had never seen before. I passed out and suffered nightmares twice as bad as the waking world's delusions. If I could have killed myself, I would have. I have Batman's tenacity to thank for ever pulling through that."

Starfire had her hands cupped close up to her face. She bit her lip sorrowfully as she listened.

Robin slowly turned around. His eyemask was around. He faced Starfire.

"That was the first time I ever felt what it was like to lose my mind. To lose my grip on things. To be utterly weak and incapable of saving myself. I promised myself after that to—first of all—not be so stupid as to rush a villain like that ill prepared. But I also promised myself that never again—as Robin—would I ever put myself in a position where I would lose my grip on things, or become incapable of saving myself, or…..or c-cry…."

A beat.

He ran a shaking glove through his spikes of black hair. He sighed.

"The last twenty four hours, Starfire…..," he gazed at her intently. He swallowed. "I d-did not lose my mind."

Starfire stared at him.

He went on: "I did not lose my mind. And…..A-And I can't for the life of me figure out what it was that happened t-to me." He gazed at the ground. "For a moment….I-I felt so free. So….So warm. The dream changed, Starfire. I would never have told you about it much less felt inclined to express a need to share it if it wasn't for….f-for that reminder I was given." He hugged his sweaty self and leaned back against the punching bag. "That r-reminder of the idealist I once was. When I wasn't so concerned about my mind….but instead about my heart."

A long beat.

He stared up at Starfire from afar. His voice was shaking somewhat: "You are the best thing to ever have happened to me, Star. I meant it when I f-first told you that last night. And I mean it now. It is just that….th-that….," he shook somewhat. He spat it out: "I can't always…….e-express it." A beat. "N-Not when I am really….'myself'…."

Starfire took a shuddering breath. "I….I understand, Robin….," she painfully nodded.

"I……," Robin shook his head. He sighed and stared at the floor. "….I just need time….t-to gather my senses. To try and start to…..understand myself." A beat. He glanced up: "I wouldn't doubt it if you know who Robin is better than I do, Star."

"And of the boy beneath?"

Robin bit his lip. He was mute.

Starfire hung her head. "I see….."

Silence.

"Robin…..?"

"Y-Yes, Star?"

"Would it….W-Would it be too much to ask sometime if…..," she hugged herself and avoided his gaze. "….if sometime you were to….l-let me hold you again sometime??" She trailed her eye until it finally set on him again. "Like you did yesterday? Would you be so willing to let me h-hold you again?"

A beat.

Robin smiled softly. "Yeah, Starfire…..that sounds doable…."

Her cheeks flushed. She giggled under her breath with her eyes shut. "That is…..m-most glorious…."

Robin kept smiling.

Silence.

"I….I will let you be…..f-for now….," Starfire said. She floated out of the gym the same way she entered, only with an added ounce of vigor.

"……….," Robin's smile slowly faded as she was gone. He stood there, resting against the punching bag for a few minutes before slowly shuffling across the gym and leaving for his room.

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

Schwissh!!

Robin walked into his room.

Schwiish!!

The door shut behind him.

"……….."

He sighed.

A beat.

He looked over at his bedside table.

"………"

He started. He hesitated. He walked over.

The drawer to the bedside table opened.

His gloved hand reached in and took the picture frame.

Robin stared at the grainy image of the bus terminal. The feminine figure placed daintily in the center of the image.

The Boy Wonder took a deep breath. His gloved fingers traced the picture. But when he touched the glass, he could feel the cold.

"…….."

Robin flinched. Robin shook. Robin snarled.

SWOOOOSH!!

He tossed the picture frame to the floor.

CRACK!!!! His boot smashed down over it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

After the convulsing yell…

He fell to his knees amidst the glass shards and frame splinters.

He hyperventilated.

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

I sat on my bed.

With the laptop.

Typing.

InzeUltima: I wonder….do you have ANYONE besides me on your buddy list? Oo

SpSquirrel: Hey, I got something on my mind.

InzeUltima: Do tell. I read some of your messages while I was away. Is everything OK?

I took a deep breath, typing…

SpSquirrel: Do I frighten you, Kara?

InzeUltima: Excuse me?

SpSquirrel: Let me rephrase that….. Do you think I'm a true superhero?

InzeUltima: Of course you are! hehehe What else would you be, Jordan?

I blinked my naked black eyes.

SpSquirrel: A ghost?

InzeUltima: Quite a sexy ghost I might add

SpSquirrel: You're not helping.

InzeUltima: Well what do you want me to say? I think it's ludicrous to doubt your heroism in your case. Understandable, perhaps….but ludicrous.

SpSquirrel: Understandable?

InzeUltima: You're so badass, Jordan. Sure, you can be dark when you take on your enemies. But that works just fine!

SpSquirrel: Am I really badass? Could I be something else?

InzeUltima: Like what, Jordan? Tell me whats on your mind. Thats what im here for

I took a deep breath. I rubbed my temples under the lantern light.

A beat.

I typed.

SpSquirrel: Someone has very recently started me thinking.

InzeUltima: about…..

SpSquirrel: Why exactly I had to kill Slade.

A pause. I waited for Kara's response.

It came.

InzeUltima: You did what you had to do, Jordan.

SpSquirrel: I know. For my friends, right?

InzeUltima: You sacrificed everything for them. That is true love and commitment.

SpSquirrel: Was it 'true love' that killed Slade?

InzeUltima: I'm prone to believe it. But you know what, Jordan? I wasn't there. I wasn't in your head when Slade was killed. You were. If anyone knows why Slade had to die, it was you.

"……….."

InzeUltima: But I believe in you, Jordan. Slade deserved to die ten times over for what he did.

SpSquirrel: But still…that doesn't make death excusable. I joined the Titans on an impulse. An impulse to stop a horror that spread death. And in the end, it was death—at my hand—that stopped the spread of that very death. I've stayed with the Titans ever since because….

And my typing lingered. I wasn't even sure why I sent that last message.

InzeUltima: Having a brain fart?

I exhaled.

SpSquirrel: Yeah….

InzeUltima: Well, let's put it in this perspective Jordan…

SpSquirrel: Okay….

InzeUltima: What was going through your mind the moment you killed Slade?

I froze.

That same question……

Damn……

My brow furrowed.

InzeUltima: What was it that you were thinking when you drove that badass sword of yours through him?

I took a deep breath.

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

SLIIIIINK!!!!

I drove Myrkblade through Slade.

To the hilt.

He jerked on my skewering weapon.

I leaned towards him.

Blood……

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

SpSquirrel: I was thinking about my friends.

I typed.

SpSquirrel: I wanted to save them. I wanted their pain and anguish to end. I lost my damn arm for them.

My eyes trailed off.

They danced—stabbed—with the flickering lantern light.

My flesh and metal fingers moved without thinking.

SpSquirrel: But…….I was thinking…….

A beat.

InzeUltima: Thinking what, Jordan? What was going through your mind??

"…….."

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

SLIIIIIINK!!!!

Slade jerked.

I leaned forward.

I panted over his shoulder.

Gazing through the window of the ship.

Out through the circular, spider web panels.

The black waters.

The cold and lonely moonlight.

A reflection of silver and white.

Ana's screams

The cedar trees burning.

Bleeding from the neck down on a lonely rock in the middle of a cold field.

My lips opened.

A breath came out.

Mute…hoarse…

Searching for vocal cords that were ripped from me.

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

My lips quivered.

My heart pounded.

I typed on the laptop without looking.

SpSquirrel: I……I said something, Kara….

Breaths came out of my lips in short, articulate bursts.

My black eyes twitched.

The lantern light laughed and howled.

SpSquirrel: I 'said' something into Slade's ear…..

InzeUltima: What did you say, Jordan?

My black eyes narrowed.

I gazed through the blaze.

At some frighteningly cold wasteland in the dark of everyone's eyelids.

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

SLIIIIIIIIINK!!!

I skewered Slade.

He leaned over me.

I leaned over him.

The window silhouetted us.

"Snkkkkkk…..y-you are a ffffffool, Noir. Hckkkk!!…O-Only fools tear themselvessssss up for friends. Only f-fools………"

I gripped hard to Myrkblade with my one, right hand.

My left stub throbbed painfully.

I felt a shiver run up my whole body.

A prophecy of cold that chilled me from the bones outward.

My lips opened.

A breath filtered through them.

I spoke silently words that only a mute's mind can imagine or 'hear'.

Into Slade's ear……

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

I hope you fucking burn.

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

SLASSSSSH!!!!!!!!

I ripped Myrkblade up.

Dividing Slade's torso.

Screaming serratedly out of his shoulder.

And…

A fountain.

A fountain of blood.

It soared out of his upper half.

It spilled out of his breathing mask.

It arced over me and nearly reached the ceiling.

Red.

Endless red.

The pure discharge of a breath and hand of utter, immaculate Destruction.

And I screamed silently at the end of my upswing.

And I practically drank and breathed in the blood.

The corners of my eyes washed over and blinked in a split second of pale white. Like the rolling eyes of a shark. And they were black once again as they always were.

"SNKKKKKTTT!!!"

Slade twitched, convulsed, and fell back in a wet red curtain.

SHATTER!!!!!!

His corpse flew through the window and was buried in the churning, Atlantic grave beyond.

And I panted…gripping Myrkblade one-handed……drenched inside out in Red.

Stronger.

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

I gripped my metal wrist.

I gritted my teeth and shuddered.

The chill ran through me like an ice pick through my spine.

RRRed Aviarrrrry……

I panted.

I swallowed.

I composed myself and typed:

SpSquirrel: I wanted him dead, Kara.

A beat.

I sighed and typed.

SpSquirrel: God, I wanted him to die so much……

A beat.

InzeUltima: I am glad he's dead too, Jordan.

I clenched my black eyes shut.

A lump in my throat….

I swallowed it away, reopened my optics, and typed:

SpSquirrel: Do superheroes wish people dead? Or is that a ghost's curse?

Silence.

The electronic response:

InzeUltima: Some people kill, Jordan. And some people save. And what is a savior without bloodletting?

I took a deep breath.

SpSquirrel: I don't feel like either a superhero or a savior, Kara. I'm not the virtuous person I joined the Titans to be.

InzeUltima: Did you join the Titans because you were virtuous, Jordan?

"…….."

InzeUltima: Or did you join them so that you could have a family?

I took a deep breath. The lump was back in my throat, but this time I didn't push it away.

I smiled painfully and typed:

SpSquirrel: Right on, Kara. Right on.

InzeUltima: And it's such a beautiful family too, Jordan. It truly is. I wish so much I could be a part of it. It would deeply……deeply honor me to be sacrificed for so. And you know what? You have done that for me. In a lot of ways you have.

"…….."

InzeUltima: If Slade got in the way of all that….I would wish him dead too.

I inhaled.

SpSquirrel: Yeah…..perhaps so….

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

There was chaos on the Metropolitan Highway.

State trooper cars blocked off all lanes of traffic.

The prison van carrying the Headmistress had crashed through the middle barrier and now it rested on its side.

The motorcycles and squad cars of the van's escorts lay strewn around in a semi-circle.

There were bullet holes and slash marks in the concrete of the divide, the asphalt of the road, and the aluminum of the vehicles.

And….

Huge spots of red.

Crimson red.

Splotched all across the concrete earth.

Squad cars and rescue crews formed a halo around the massacre.

Their lights fought the rising sunrise's glow.

It was at such a scene that the T-Car rolled up.

Cyborg cut the engine, parked, and stepped out. "My god….," he murmured.

Raven floated out, blinking.

Cyborg exchanged glances with her.

A beat.

They both walked forward slowly towards the scene.

As they approached, a slightly aged state trooper marched up to him. He adjusted his hat instinctively and with a long face spoke: "Did the Commissioner tell you the details?"

Cyborg slowly shook his head.

"He did not…," Raven said. "But he was very distressed." A beat. "Is anyone alive?"

The trooper shook his head. "Not a single one."

"Wh-What happened to them?" Cyborg asked.

The trooper's eyes fell to the asphalt. A beat. He looked up again and motioned with two fingers. "Come. Take a look for yourself."

The two Titans nodded. They filed in after the man. They walked past delirious, numb troopers and paramedics. They seemed confused, overwhelmed, disgusted. One was actually throwing up as they passed by.

"……," Raven gazed. "Something feels……hauntingly familiar."

Cyborg glanced at her. "What is it?" he whispered.

Raven shook her head. "A trail. A scent of some presence. Something cold and ruthless."

"You say it's familiar?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it…."

"There," the state trooper pointed.

The Titans froze.

Their gazes narrowed.

Resting up against the overturned top of the prison van were the bodies of the dead. The Headmistress lay in the center. The dead troopers rested up against her side like some bizarre altar peace.

The Headmistress was dead. There was a deep, vertical slit in her throat. The impression of a razor-sharp broadsword.

The state troopers' corpses were identical in their punishment. Slit throats leaked with dry, brown and caking blood.

"We wanted you Titans to take a close look….," the man removed his hat and rubbed a graying head of hair. "Decker says….y'all have seen this sort of thing before. In the City."

In response to that, Raven and Cyborg's gaze fell.

And they realized that the dead Headmistress and troopers' corpses all had one haunting thing in common.

All of their right hands had been neatly and expertly sliced off at the wrist.

"………….."

Cyborg and Raven gazed at each other.

"…………."

They gazed again at the corpses.

The bloody right stubs glistened in the morning light