After sleeping all day, each Titan felt well rested very early in the morning. The first to wake was Terra, who got dressed and set out into the operations room at three in the morning to plan. From a drawer, she took a few pens and a paper of yellow lined paper. Although her work was scribbled and inartistic, in about thirty minutes she'd drawn what she remembered to be the path to Slade's hiding spot within the city. She turned the sheet of paper to a clean one and wrote each of the team's names, excluding Robin's. Beneath each name she wrote a loose idea of how they could function in the rescue mission. It wasn't her specialty, but under the pressure, she managed to get down an intelligent attack plan. However, her plan didn't involve much attacking at all. She knew if they were loud and obvious with their entrance to Slade's lair, he would only be ready for them sooner. The deception she knew they somehow had to accomplish was to be quiet and misleading. When messing with someone as sly as Slade, they had to play with his own rules on conduct. She knew them well from training under him-now it was time to use them against him instead of against her friends.

Raven was the second to emerge from her room and into the kitchenette for tea. Terra stood up and brought the plans over to her. "I think I've got something, Raven," she said, handing over the notepad. "It may not be the best, but I think I know what we have to do to get Robin out safely, without any trouble . . . what do you think?"

While her tea was heating, Raven glanced over the papers. She wasn't expecting anything too amazing, especially since Terra usually didn't even know how to plan for herself, let alone a whole team. To her surprise, it seemed completely logical and thorough. In fact, there were more than a few good ideas written down.

Since Raven didn't show any signs of annoyance or distrust in her work, Terra stepped a little closer and Raven handed back the notepad. "Let's wait until the others wake up," Raven said, "then you should explain to everyone what we're doing. The more we all understand, the less likely we'll make a mistake." Terra nodded, holding her work against her chest.

Within forty minutes or so, the rest of the team was up. Terra explained her plans in detail over a light breakfast of toast and cereal. She passed around her notepad for everyone to look at, and set it in the center of the table when everyone had seen it. "Now for my explanation," she said. "I know tricking and deceiving isn't really our thing, as Teen Titans. But listen-it's Slade's thing, and if we get him with his own tactics, he'll be caught off guard. He expects us to come bursting through his walls firing attacks every way we turn. But we're not going to do that." She smiled. "We're going to lie to him, trick him into a false sense of security, then grab Robin right under his nose."

Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire all looked at her with blank, confused and slightly worried faces. Raven was passive and unresponsive.

"I know it seems weird, but we've got to at least try it, okay?" Terra asked. "Trust me, for now." She didn't like the way her last sentence came out and made a regretful face, frowning and looking away. She changed it quickly, but it still felt odd to her.

They nodded together like obedient elementary school children, waiting patiently for her to continue. No one said anything about her comment, because it was only Terra who noticed it could be taken strangely.

"You've all read your parts, right?" Terra moved along. "Now, this is how it's going to go, from the beginning. Pay attention. . . ." She trailed off into her plan, making sure not to omit any details.

Several questions, misunderstandings and one hour later, the team was prepared. It was around five in the morning, and none of them were tired. Beast Boy stretched over one of the chairs in front of the counter. Cyborg turned to look out at the city. It was still dark, but the hazy orange sunrise was slipping over the horizon. Black birds flew in front of the window, their wings a blur of motion. He turned back. Starfire tapped her fingers on the countertop. The air was still.

Terra never was the leader of anything, but for the meantime, the team had no choice but to accept her guidance. While Robin was absent, someone had to take his place and format a plan. No one suspected it would be Terra, but she felt like she had to make it up to them. They were letting her, trusting her to do the right thing without objection. For every time she'd let them down in the past, it was her chance to really prove she could help them. She tried not to let it show, but she was becoming more nervous by the minute. She didn't know how to be a leader and she was afraid for her team, more than anything, if she had missed a loophole in her plot where everything could go wrong. Swallowing hard, her body stiff, she wondered if this is how Robin felt all the time. He's so used to it, and so much stronger than I am, it probably doesn't bother him at all, she thought, wrapping her arms around herself.

In the back of each of their minds, worry was approaching. If Slade didn't believe their initial trick, the entire plan would fail. Terra pressed her lips together and folded her arms. She was the start of the initial trick, and it was a dangerous idea. It was going to be hard, but he had trained her to lie very well. The Titans were the first to believe her, the first to confirm that her hard work had paid off. Now it was the real challenge-could she deceive the same person that taught her to be deceiving?

Author Note:

Short chapter-but hopefully it's meaningful.

I think I'm getting sick... Sigh.

And I've realized it's been about a year since I started this story! Wow, kind of a long time for a fan fiction. Or is it? I wouldn't really know.