Weaver sat up quickly, regretting as he did so; the scabs on his back cracked at once, forcing sharp pains throughout his body. The nurse pushed him back down onto the bed gently, saying something to him that his muddled mind couldn't make out. He felt a slight probing sensation in his head and did his best to clear his mind; Raven's voice came through loud and clear.

"You're hurt, pretty badly. Stay down and rest. I know you're not going to want to, but it's the best thing to do right now. Bruce is here. You aren't going to like what he just told me." He groaned, not sure how loud he was. It felt like there was water in his ears, and he could barely hear anything. Bruce Wayne stepped into the room and stood over him for a moment. He saw Batman's lips moving, but still couldn't hear anything, so he shook his head and pointed at his ear. Wayne nodded, grabbed a syringe, and jammed it into his ear. The syringe sucked the fluid out of his eardrum, and, despite the initial pain, Weaver was glad, and let him do the same to the other side.

"Better?"

"I can at least hear now."

"Red X is dead. He was sent by somebody else to attack you, but I don't know who. I'm trying to find the leverage this employer had over him, but for now, there are no leads. I also have a confession to make; all of your clothes were bugged. I didn't send you to that school entirely just to provide a distraction, but to collect intel. There's been some talk that a terrorist cell is planning on attacking local schools, Gotham High being the epicenter of the attacks, but that's all so far. I was hoping sending you there would help the case, but it seems like the police might be able to do a better job here."

"No. I'll do it."

"You haven't seen yourself. Let's put it this way. Even I would be taking a few days off at this point. You were lucky to survive the blast, Simon. Don't push your luck."

"You wouldn't be taking any time off and we both know it. Don't try to stop me." He tried to get up again and Bruce pushed him down, holding him to the bed.

"Nurse! Can we get restraints? Patient keeps trying to get out of the bed." The nurse rushed in with a set of leather straps seconds later, muttering to herself before straightening out.

"Yes sir, Mr. Wayne." He held Weaver down while the nurse strapped his wrists to the sides of the bed, rendering him immobile.

"Bed rest. Several days. I don't want you leaving this room without a damn good reason." Bruce left, leaving Weaver fuming.

"Yo, Rob, you hear what Weaver did?"

"Of course I heard it."

"I just found out, sorry."

"How did you not know?"

"Was down for repairs, been out of contact with the world the last few days. I thought you knew."

"No, I didn't."

"I'm gonna kill BB." They settled down on the couch in Titan's Tower, watching the news as it reported on the "betrayal of trust".

"Cindy Sinclair, reporting on the murder of the crime boss Black Mask, known publicly as Roman Sionis. Teen Titans member Nightweaver had been in a battle with him nearly since his beginnings as a hero. The rivalry escalated into a full scale war over time; at one point, Nightweaver had believed he had already killed Black Mask, although this information was not made available to us until recently. As it turns out, the Roman Sionis he had killed was actually a clone, and the real Roman assaulted Nightweaver, Catgirl, and Raven in the mansion they shared. He drugged all three of them and executed the two girls, forcing Nightweaver to watch. This affected the hero drastically, and eventually he killed himself. However, through Raven's ties with her father, the demon Trigon, and the hatred Trigon had for Nightweaver, they were eventually resurrected; unfortunately, things wouldn't return to quite the same. We have Catgirl here for commentary on the troubled hero's psyche." The camera panned to her, sitting in a chair across from the reporter.

"He wasn't able to live with himself. He didn't really want to come back to life; Black Mask forced him to choose which of us he would kill first, which was a decision that nobody should ever be subjected to. It just..." She started to tear up for a moment, and Cindy put a hand on her shoulder in support.

"It tore him apart. There's no other way to put it. He wasn't the same, and he still isn't. He was irritable before, yeah, but from then on he's just seemed angry."

"Angry at what?"

"Everything. Like he was mad at the world for making somebody like Black Mask, mad at the world for turning him into who he was, mad at the world for putting him in that position. To this day he has serious trust issues."

"I've been told you two recently broke up?"

"Yes, but that was understandable. He's had trouble staying with anybody for too long. I'm not angry about that at all."

"So, would you say that he's seemed unstable?"

"That's a loaded question, and any answer I give to it would put him in a bad light."

"Well, how would you best describe his attitude towards Black Mask?"

"He became the boogieman. Everywhere he turned, he would see Sionis, even if nobody else saw anything. Let's say the Joker was making a distraction for Batman by using his gas in Jump; this didn't actually happen, it's just an example. He would do something like take apart one of the gassers or find a bomb, tear it apart, and he'd find something that Black Mask sold the Joker, and all of a sudden, the entire thing was Roman's plan and he had to stop him. He'd vanish for days at a time, even a week, then come back pissed off, excuse my language."

"So this just kept escalating?"

"Yes. He eventually told Robin he was going to take leave from the Titans to go after him. We eventually found out that he was trying to team up with other villains who had an interest in taking out Black Mask; him and Red Hood have been longtime enemies, the Joker wanted him dead because he thought it would be fun to watch, some other gang bosses wanted him gone to help business, etcetera."

"That's a pretty scary thought."

"The Titans tried to help. He hired an assassin to help him, and that turned out badly. That still hasn't been resolved. But the moment he got the opportunity, he used a power we weren't aware of."

"And that was?"

"He had upgraded his suit to give him brief bursts of amazing strength. He punched a hole straight through Black Mask's chest. He was pronounced dead an hour later."

"Well, that's it, ladies and gentlemen. Is this a tragedy, an example of freedom gone too far? Or is it a godsend, a hero removing a cancer to our well being? This is Cindy Sinclair, signing off." The show cut back to the regular news, with the two anchors both trying to discuss the situation.

"Damn. I didn't think he had it in him," Cyborg said, feeling sorry for his friend.

"He'll be alright. Batman has him for now. He'll get him fixed up." His communicator buzzed, and he had a terrible feeling immediately.

"Robin."

"Batman, what is it?"

"Red X just suicide bombed Nightweaver and Raven. When he's able to move, I'm sending them back to Titans Tower."

"I don't think that's a very good id-"

"It's the safest place for them. I've done my research. One of them is being targeted, and, since he's made a much larger impression lately, I'd be willing to bet my money on Nightweaver. I'm going to solve this, but I need you and your team to keep him safe until I can fix this."

"I see your point. When?"

"He'll be safe to be medevaced in three days. He had a room there, correct?"

"We'll take care of things here. Don't worry about that."

"Good to be able to count on you, Robin. You're doing a good job out there. Keep up the good work." The call ended before Robin could respond; a compliment from the Dark Knight was rare, and he was just glad to have it.

"Cy, get the others and get Weaver's room set up. Sterilized."

"What?"

"Long story. Get to it."