"Must we?" Starfire's voice broke the silence, "I do not wish to see him right now. I believe it will only cause more fighting among us."

Mulling over the alien girls words Robin responded, "If he asked to see us, I think it would be good to hear him out. It's the right thing to do, no matter how much we don't want to hear what he has to say."

Starfire sighed and looked her leader knowing he was right and responded with, "Yes, that seems to be the correct choice."

"I'll drive then" Cyborg volunteered, but when he started walking to the T-Car, no one walked with him. Everyone still stood where they were. "What?"

"Umm, dude we all just worked out. Shouldn't we shower or something first? And change into our normal outfits?" Beastboy spoke up.

"Actually, I think that's one of the best ideas you've had in a while BB." Responded Cyborg in a cheery tone. Everyone else was in agreement and they all made themselves presentable before they all piled into the T-Car. The mood had greatly improved since their last ride together and they were all engaging in small talk.

"So whatcha' think he wants to talk about?" Beast Boy asked to no one in particular.

"He's probably going to try to sell us his bomber story again, but he's not going to have much luck." Said Raven in a matter of fact tone.

Robin joined in agreement, "What else would he say to us? Does he actually think he's going to sell us that story?"

"Why do you both dismiss this idea so quickly? Is it not still possible?" Starfire asked with a curious look on her face.

"Because Star, he's a bad guy. Just because it's possible, doesn't mean it happened. He's freaking out because he got caught and is going to face a very long sentence. Now, he's trying some crazy story to get himself out." Robin answered.

"Man, you guys are just saying the same thing this morning. Isn't there anything else you guys wanna talk about?" Cyborg interjected trying to keep the peace.

"We can talk about the nutritional benefits of tofu!"

Not surprisingly, Beast Boy got a resounding no from the rest of the team and they rode the rest of the way ragging on tofu instead. Well, all but one. Now united on common ground against a common enemy the team's overall mood began to improve. By the time they neared the police station, smiles again adorned their faces, well all except Beast Boy who had his one true love and staple food verbally torn apart for the past fifteen minutes. Starfire at one point tried to defend the ghastly food, but the other's discredited it, due to the resident alien's other choices of food. Eventually, he too brightened because he was with his cheerful friends. They arrived and all piled out of the car and into the building. Robin stepped up to the front desk to announce their arrival and their intent to speak to Control Freak and once doing so, returned to the rest of his team. While in the waiting area they all began to notice an older man holding a woman who was crying hard, but as quietly as she could into his chest.

The woman was whispering in between sobs, "Why? He was our boy. Why? He didn't deserve to die like that. Why? He was such a good boy and he had everything going for him. Why? Why? Why?" the realization hit the titans that they were parents of the man killed by Control freak, and they were all sickened. Yet again, smiles began to fade the longer they stayed in the same room as the devastated couple. A police man finally came and took them back to see Control Freak the same time another went to talk to the couple consoling each other. Right after the Titans passed through the door and it closed behind them he addressed the morning couple "Mr. and Mrs. Winchester…"

When the Titans made it back to Control Freak, they were already on edge from seeing the couple outside and not in the most stable of moods. Control Freak began once they came into view.

"Oh thank God you're hear! None of these cops believe me! They all think I killed that guy in cold blood, but you guys know I didn't right?"

Robin taking it upon himself as the leader to respond first, "Uh-huh, and what evidence do you have that supports your claim?"

Shocked that he was able to get down to business so quickly he had to stop and think about an answer before responding, "Well, if I had my remote I'd just bring back the explosive vest that I sent away, and if that doesn't prove my innocence, I don't know what will."

This time, the empath responded, "And just where did you send this 'explosive vest?'"

Raising a pointed finger and opening his mouth to respond he faltered and thought Where did I send it? Before closing his mouth and letting his finger drop back down. "I have no idea." Was all the response he had.

"Oh? Well that seems awfully convenient for your story, Control Freak. Doesn't it?" Raven followed up with bitter sarcasm.

"Oh come on! I didn't have much time to think of a good destination for it! Hell, I didn't have any time to make any kinda calculations on it, cuz I ended up taking the guy's entire torso with it! It was such a stressful situation I'm surprised I was able to do what I did!"

Seeking to bring the escalating situation back down, Starfire asked, "What if we were able to return your remote to you? Would you then be able to show us where the explosive vest is?"

Control Freak snorted before responding, "Not likely. A Storm Trooper has a higher chance of hitting a running Jedi 100 yards away with only a DH-17 blaster pistol than me finding that vest again."

Only Beast Boy responded with an understanding yet sullen, "Oh." To which his team all looked to him for an interpretation. "Pretty much a zero percent chance." He told his team with a shrug.

With the team now looking back at at Control Freak, he continued, "I'd have no idea which t.v. I beamed it into, so I would have to go to every single t.v. within a two-mile radius around the art museum and check each channel individually until I came back across the vest. And even if I found the correct channel there's no guarantee it would still be there. Maybe it was beamed into the Discovery channel during a special on the Marianas Trench, or the Sci-Fy channel with a movie about exploring deep space." Realizing that finding this vest was his only get out of jail free card his eyes widened and quickly added, "But that doesn't mean I'm not not willing to try."

Before the Titans could muster a response, they were distracted by a breaking news flash on a t.v. in a nearby guard station. The newscaster began, "The newly elected mayor has news of the bill he'd recently brought to the Jump City courts earlier this week. He is now just seconds away from telling the public about this bill in a press conference he's called. Let's now go to it live." With that, they cut to the mayor standing on a podium clearing his throat and straightening the papers in his hands, and he begins talking, "People of Jump City, this great city is a beautiful place. When I was first elected I saw my job was cut out for me, because it's a mayor's job to improve the city he resides in, and Jump city looked pretty perfect to me." He paused to let the soft laughter fade before continuing again, "I noticed that we all could use a little help in the fine art department, and gladly obliged to start a new project of building a new museum dedicated to that very thing. I thought this was a strong first step in the right direction, but it quickly became a step backwards when one man decided to ruin all we worked hard at building. That man was the masked villain that goes by the name of Control Freak." Upon finishing his statement, the Titans looked back at the culprit mentioned, but he only shrugged with a nervous grin on his face. "Now, my people of Jump City, if there is one thing that is wrong about this fine city it is the amount of masked villains running free in the streets. It is clearly evident that it is becoming a larger and larger problem to this city, perfectly showcased by this 'Control Freak' lowering his moral standards to a level now accepting cold blooded murder. That is why I told this city's court system that we needed to tighten the noose, literally and figuratively, on costumed villains, and that, my fellow residents of Jump City, is why I am addressing you today. In my hands I am holding my newly passed bill reinstating capital punishment in Jump City for all repeating offenders that wear a costume, starting with Control Freak."

The sound of applause filled the speakers, and the Titans turned around to face Control Freak, but before anyone could address the new situation, Beast Boy asked, "Capital punishment? Does that mean we're shippin' Control Freak here up to Capital City, or is it just punishment with a capital 'P?'"

Cyborg responded, "You could say it's punishment with a capital 'P.' It's the death penalty bro."

Beast Boy's widened eyes were his only response, and once again everyone looked at Control Freak, "They're… They're gonna kill me. Over something I didn't do. You guys need to help me! Now, more than ever!"

Silence filled the room as nobody wanted to be the first to speak. Both Starfire and Robin thought no one was going to reply and at the same time spoke, "Yes, of course we will help." And "Cut the crap, Control Freak." Hearing the two speak very different things at almost the same exact time, Beast boy looked at Robin while Raven looked at Starfire and they both said, "Why did you say that?" Then Cyborg seeing exactly where this was going, put a hand up to his head and said, "Not again."

In the beginning they were all calmly explaining why they said what they said, though it may have been chaotic with them talking over each other. They tried to be logical, and sway their fellow teammates to see their view.

"Do you see his reaction? It is clear that he is not misleading us."

"The dude on the t.v. sounded like he meant business."

"There's a saying, 'Once a criminal, always a criminal.'"

"Without any evidence, there's really nothing to debate."

"You're basing everything on the word of a criminal."

"He didn't really put up a fight when we went to capture him though."

"Jinx was at one time a criminal, now she's helpin' put Kid Flash."

Talking quickly became yelling, and logic began to disappear. Sharp tones became prominent as they started to loose patience with each other.

"He's playing us, isn't it obvious?"

"How could you be so cold?"

"I thought you were smarter than this!"

"It is wrongful to sentence him!"

"It's 'wrongful' to let him go!"

"We're the good guys remember?"

"He needs to go to jail!"

"We all need to calm down!"

The yelling became fierce. Logic was thrown out the window and the only words screamed were those meant to injure. They were after all superheroes, and superheroes never know when to give up.

"Dude!"

"Boy Blunder!"

"Klorebag!"

"Witch!"

"Little, green elf!"

"Robot!"

"Troq!"

Everyone became dead silent instantly. Robin quickly put a hand over his mouth as Starfire just stared at him. A tear fell from her cheek as she quickly turned around and left. The others watched Robin, unaware he would be willing to stoop to a level like that.

"Dude, that was a low blow."

Robin glared at Beast Boy and shoved past him. Robin was the second to quickly leave the building. The last three looked at each other before Cyborg spoke up "So I guess I'm driving you to back?" The two looked at each other and Raven said, "I'll fly." And Beast Boy agreed, "Me too."

They both left leaving Cyborg the last Titan, now alone with Control Freak and he just stared at at Cyborg in shock. After a while he just quietly mumbled, "What just happened? Did I do that to you guys." Cyborg looked back and bitterly said, "Don't be flattered." before leaving Control Freak by himself. Control Freak looked at the ground and said barely above a whisper, "Believe me, I'm not."

Cyborg climbed back into the T-Car after walking out of the police station. The whole ride to the tower he thought about what happened to the team. Two days ago everything was going perfectly. Robin hadn't spent more than an hour a day in the evidence room for months. There were days in the past when he'd stay in there for over eight. If he remembered correctly (and he always did) Robin's record was twelve hours thirty-three minutes and seventeen seconds.

Ha would have gone longer if Star hadn't coaxed him out with promises of a movie night. He chuckled as he remembered when he and Beast Boy started betting on how long he would stay. Cyborg was the winner eighty-seven point six percent of the time.

But with what just happened, he thought that Robin would start back up his old habit. He's probably gonna seta new record soon too, he thought. What was Robin thinking yelling something like that? Robin had always been the most level headed among all of them, though Cyborg was a close second. He thought about what the future could hold for all of them.

His thoughts drifted to his other teammates. Raven's been smiling a lot more recently too. I can bet that's definitely going a way too. I wonder what's been the cause of that? Could be her dad's not been around for a long time now. Maybe BB's jokes finally got to her. Ha, yah right. She'll never find that kid funny.

Thinking about his always chipper green friend, his thoughts darkened. He's probably gonna be telling a lot fewer jokes too. That kid always is able to be happy, but I think he just met his match. Dark thoughts ran through his mind as he made his way back home. So lost in thought, he didn't realize that he'd already made it back to the tower.

When he walked in to the main room, he found it completely empty. "Figured everyone would have beat me back, considering they can all fly." After realizing that not all parties mentioned could fly, he still didn't revise his answer. "He found a way, he always does." Soon after he heard a slam of a door from way up in the living quarters. How hard do you have to slam a door for me to hear it down hear? Cyborg's superior design of the tower included fairly high quality sound proofing. Instead of debating the subject more he instead put all his effort into making left over baby back ribs into a second delicious meal.

Upstairs, a teenage girl just slammed a door with her full strength. Now, normal teenage girl can slam a door fairly hard when angry enough, but they also have the help from a door with hinges on one side that are easy to slam. Titan's Tower doesn't have doors that slam easily because they automatically slide, but to the girl that just slammed the door, it didn't make a difference. That's because the normal teenage girl is born on planet earth, not on Tamaran, where this particular teenage girl was born. With the amount of righteous fury this teenage girl was feeling right now, she completely ripped the door off it's sliding track and imbedded it into the other side. The force of the throw made the door crumple, leaving an eight-inch gap between the edge of the now crumpled door, and the frame.

Angrier and more hurt than she had ever been before Starfire stormed over to her bed and sat on the edge. Having never dealt with such emotion before, she had no idea on how to handle it. It completely overloaded her mind, and she just sat there on her bed, head lowered and her hands clasped together sitting in her lap while she just stared at the ground. She couldn't even manage to think back to what just happened, she just sat in shock. Every time she became angry prior to today, her eyes glowed a dangerous bright green, but she was so completely broken, it almost looked as if the green color paled. Time was forgotten as she just sat dwelling in a hell of her own crushing pain.

On the other side of the door stood a teenage boy. Most teenage boys live lives full of stupidity and become quite deft at deflating situations in order to lessen the punishment. The difference between this teenage boy and all others, is that none have ever been as nervous as he was right now, and the sight of the mangled door in front of him only made him feel even worse. When Robin was fifteen, he thought the Batmobile was feeling lonely and needed a joyride to make it feel better. Fifteen minutes later he had to confess to the Dark Knight himself he just totaled the Batmobile. Not scratched up, not dented, not crashed, totaled. Up until now that was the most nervous he'd ever been, but right now he'd rather confess to totaling the Batmobile, Batwing, the Justice League's Watchtower, and accidentally burning down Wayne Manor to Batman than face the Tamaranean girl on the other side of the door.

Robin spent the entire time hopping from rooftop to rooftop all the way back to the tower furiously trying to think of things he could possibly say to convey how terrible he felt right now, and he thought he had something that might work in his mind right now. He analyzed the situation over and over again in his head, and found enough evidence to escuse his behavior. He had organized them all in a complete argument in his head, and he now reached forward to knock, but hesitated thinking it pointless considering how the door looked right now. He knocked anyway.

Clearing his throat multiple times, he began, "Star?" no response "Starfire?" still no response "I know you're in there because of the current state of your door.'" And after pausing yet again, added "And I know you can hear me because of, well, the current state of your door." With still no response from Starfire, he thought it might just be better to say everything he thought of on the way to the tower, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. He realized all of it was wrong, he couldn't prepare a speech before hand to be unceremoniously repeated. Instead he began where he felt at his worst.

"I have done many things in life that I regret. I regret lying to all of you when I secretly became Red X. I regret almost arresting Beast Boy after we found him and Raven in the sewer when he became the Beast for the first time. I regret Losing my cool with Cyborg, making him temporarily leave the team. I regret not being able to make Terra see the error of her ways right before she threw me down a whole. I regret turning my back on her too. I regret spending hours upon hours in the evidence room pouring over case files instead of spending time with you guys."

Robin paused to catch his breath and then continued, "But when I think back to the things I regret the most, they're all about how I've treated you. I regret taking away your ability to fly when we crash landed on that uncharted planet. I regret hurting you when I thought I saw Slade run past you in the forest. I regret the fact that when I was forced into being Slade's apprentice you refused to attack me, but I still attacked you. I regret letting Val Yor treat you terribly when we were on mission with him. But more than any of these things I regret following in his footsteps today and calling you 'Troq.' I will not make excuses for my self. I will not try to apologize, because I have crossed a line that I never should have, and I do not deserve your forgiveness."

He stared at the door in silence. Still no response. He turned to leave after saying what he needed to say knowing the girl had no reason to hear, let alone forgive, him but was stopped by a voice on the other side of the door. It was a very quiet voice, full of pain and all that was said was, "You may enter." In an almost inaudible voice. Turning back to the door, with a small grin on his face, he grabbed the edge and pulled. It didn't budge a millimeter.

The grin disappeared as quickly as it came. "Uh, Star. I need your help opening the door."

He heard the sound of Starfire getting up from her bed, and her heavy steps coming towards the door. In one swift motion the door was pulled free from the doorframe and set down next to the opening, leaning against the wall. He stood facing Starfire from across the threshold, but before anything else was said, she retreated farther into her room.

He followed her as slowly and delicately as possible and stood there, not willing to destroy the fragile peace that stood right now. The Tamaranean also stood there, and the two just looked at each other keeping both their mouths tightly shut. Starfire couldn't hold it back any more. She lunged toward Robin and held him close in a hug and did not let go. This action surprised Robin, but not as nearly as much as the strength behind the hug. He knew very well that Starfire's hugs could leave bruising for days, but right now he could barely feel her arms around him she held him so weakly. Robin, scared of what this could mean, did what he thought could be only right thing to do. He made up the difference in strength and began to hug her back as strongly as he possibly could. Ever so slowly, he felt the pressure of her arms around him increase. He kept holding her until his muscles began to burn, and only stopped squeezing when her strength grew until it outmatched his.

While Robin still held her, Starfire began speaking. At first sounding muffled as her face was pressed against his shoulder, but the longer she spoke the clearer she sounded as she began to lift her head and meet his gaze, "Robin, I must confess. Returning to our home after our fight at the station was most difficult. When first leaving the station, I could only run, because I was unable to muster enough joy to fly. The longer I ran the more sadness filled me. I soon feared that I would be forced to run the entire length back, but then I began thinking about you. I thought about you, friend Robin, even though it was you that hurt me so deeply, and it was a hope that you did not mean what you had said that first enabled me to leave the ground. I faltered many times over the flight back, but each time it was hope that you were still my friend that helped me rise back into the air each time."

Robin felt sick. How could he ever deserve to know let alone be the friend of, such a perfect girl. He couldn't believe it. He'd done the unthinkable, and she still used him as a source of joy to enable her flight. He realized how much he cared about this girl and intended to let her know how much she mattered to him. He separated slightly from her and brought her face up to look at her. Readying himself to tell her that very thing, he saw her eyes shift to the broken door behind him.

She instead took a step back from Robin saying, "Oh, I have ruined this door and friend Cyborg must repair it. I have the feelings of remorse for causing him to do so. Come! Let us go apologize to him at once!" And with that, she grabbed Robin by the hand and whisked him out of the room, while Robin cursed himself for missing his opportunity.

Cyborg had just finished putting together the left overs of the baby back ribs he made two nights ago when an orange blur rushed out of the door and into the kitchen. Before he could take a bite Starfire was standing right in front of him, dragging a dazed Robin behind her. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. He didn't expect the Tamaranean to up and about so quickly, especially holding hands with Robin like she was right now.

"Friend Cyborg, I am informing you that I had, um, had an unfortunate encounter with my door, and I am wanting to give you all the apologies for doing so. May you please fix it for me?" and finished it off with a simply dazzling smile.

"Of course, Star, I'd be happy to fix your door!"

"Glorious! Now if you two friends will do the excusing of me, I am wanting to fly around our home for a time." And with that the alien girl released Robin's hand and flew out the door at a break neck pace, leaving the two boys alone.

After a short silence Cyborg looked to his leader, "Ok man, I gotta ask. How in the Nine Circles of Hell did you get that girl to turn around so quickly? I thought we were doomed to a week of silence around the tower, followed by months of hostility."

Robin just smirk back at his robotic friend and responded with, "I have my ways."

Outraged that his friend would not reveal his secret, Cyborg began loudly listing all possibilities he could think of, "Is it the hair? There's no way you could have talked your way out of that! You can give one Hell of a good speech to inspire a team before a battle, but anything thing that has to do with emotions, you trip over your words like no other! You'd probably just try to give evidence that justified your actions!" Robin cringed at that answering knowing that that was almost exactly plan A "Did you promise a ride in the Batmobile? A future spot on the Justice League? A tour of Europe? You gotta tell me man!"

Robin just held his smirk and shrugged his shoulders, "Where would the fun be if I told you all my secrets?"

Cyborg had to now hold back the urge to strangle the skinny kid standing in front of him, "I'm lucky that I haven't seen the little grass stain, since I would have bet every penny I own that you two wouldn't be talking for months after that stunt you just pulled. Is he even back yet?"

A short distance away, the 'grass stain' spoke, "Thanks for lettin' me stick around Raven! I'm sure things aren't too bright and happy back home." Beast Boy said to Raven as they both sat under a tree in a park not too far from Tian's Tower. "Don't mention it." She replied in a steady monotone, as she turned the next the page in her book in her lap.

"I mean I really am happy that you thought it'd be ok for me to chill with you. Dude, what do you think Starf-" but the loud clap of a book closing quickly deftly silenced him.

Raven shot a glare over at her teammate, "You see Beast Boy, When I said 'Don't mention it.' It wasn't a figure of speech to show my politeness; I was actually telling you not to talk about it. Now, this is a very good book, and it's difficult to concentrate on it with you yapping on incessantly. So," She paused letting her words sit, "If I may." And with that she re-opened her book and resumed reading.

Now it would seem obvious that this would be a fine time to shut up, but somehow Beast Boy didn't get the memo. "Ooh, is it a good book? What's it about? Oh that totally reminds me of a joke I heard about books! Ok, so one book tells another book that he looks a lot skinnier, and the other book says-" but before he could deliver the punchline, Raven opened a portal right where Beast Boy was sitting, causing him to fall through and disappear. "Thanks, I had my appendix removed!" Beast Boy laughed until he opened his eyes expecting to see Raven laughing but instead saw that he was sitting on the couch in his own living room. "Dude! That one was totally gonna get a laugh for sure! It was the perfect joke for Raven! It was about books and it even had a big word in it!"

[End Chapter]

Good? Bad? Let me know. I thought it was starting to get too dreary (plenty of time for that later) so I thought I'd heal some wounds. Is Control Freak starting to become a bigger issue with the help of the mayor's new bill? Is it enough to start dividing the Titans? If not tell me what would. Also, I'm trying to improve the length on each chapter my goal is too be at least 5,000 words every chapter, but I'm still pushing to go farther. You like? Finally, I want to thank you all for reviewing (even you, anonymous person that copy and pasted five pages of gibberish in the reviews for some reason), following or anything of the sort. Be happy in the fact that each time I read a review or see someone followed or favorited my story, I'm smiling ear to ear. Oh! Also, if you were confused by the couple waiting in the police station, they were the Winchesters, and the man murdered was James McKinney. Who were they? Who knows, but they weren't his parents. All in all, I liked this chapter, but is it Above Average in your book?