"You are sure that you are undamaged, friend Jon?"

"Yes, Koriand'r, I am certain. Rachel healed me up rather nicely." I couldn't resist a faint blush at the memory, either.

"Friend Raven is sometimes... difficult... to deal with, but she always means the best."

Starfire had missed the entire violent exchange because she had been "performing the Ritual of Laundering Clothes" in the basement. I almost took her misunderstanding seriously until I saw the mischievous sparkle in her jade eyes. Since she was nearby, wanted to talk, and possessed far more strength than I, I drafted her assistance in moving my belongings downstairs to the garage. From there, Cyborg had agreed to drive me to a hotel. Diana had been kind enough to procure a room for me until I could arrange for more long-term habitations.

Interested as I was (some might say 'obsessed') with obtaining knowledge, the idea of a whole planet full of information new to humanity struck me as an irresistible lure. I begged Starfire to teach me the language of Tamaran, but she put it off until after the latest danger with the Nephilim was concluded. Revealing the origins of her earthly name was a sort of consolation prize.

"I am sorry that we held you unjustly," she said after a long pause.

"Don't worry about it," I replied. "I know that you didn't mean anything by it. You were just following orders."

"As you say," she acknowledged, "but from one who has been shackled and locked away... I should have argued alongside Raven for your release."

I took a moment to mull that over. Starfire floated through the air with three large boxes of books in her arms, the last of the room that had very temporarily been mine. I shuffled along with my driftwood aid as we entered and crossed through the ops room. Both Beast Boy and Robin were present and ignored me. I returned the favour.

"Perhaps you should have," I finally replied as the elevator door closed and sent us down towards the garage. "On the other hand, I understand that you and Robin have some sort of... connection?... that might cause you to not want to side against him."

Her blush was immediate and deep.

"It's past, Kori." The doors slid open, allowing the smell of steel, gasoline, and grease to invade the elevator. "Don't worry about it."

Across the expansive room Cyborg was elbows deep in the engine of the T-Car. I was amazed to see no grime on him at all. It shouldn't have been possible for anyone to work on a car and not get dirty...

Maybe his casing was made of Teflon.

In short order the last of my worldly possessions were loaded into the back seat of the T-Car. Starfire bid us goodbye, and Cyborg began driving along the tunnel that led from the island to the mainland. It was an uncomfortable silence that bloomed between us, and we both were too absorbed in our own thoughts to bother trying to break it.

Eventually we arrived at the hotel, an unassuming building nestled between a restaurant and an office building. I grabbed a duffel bag from where it rested at my feet and exited the car. After a half-hearted attempt at well-wishing, Cyborg drove onward to the storage facility I had contracted with for the next few months.

The room was adequate, and was in fact larger than the apartment I had been renting when I first came to the city. I unpacked my bag and pulled the phone book from its resting place in the nightstand.

I couldn't perform any research for the Titans, but that didn't mean that I couldn't help. A few flipped pages revealed a familiar name.

"I don't believe it," I muttered as I pressed buttons on the room's phone. I looked vaguely upwards as I continued with, "You three have a sublime sense of humour, I'll grant you that." A few rings eventually gave way to a man's voice.

"Hello?"

I grinned a bit. "Harry, how's it going?"

An awkward pause hissed over the phone's poor connection until, "Erm... fine. You?"

"Good, good. Weather's much better than Chicago, I'll tell you that."

A wry, yet guarded chuckle. "No doubt. Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but I can't seem to place your voice..."

"Yeah, don't worry about that. What's important for you to know right now is that I know who you are, I know what you can do, and I have plenty of money that I'm willing to part with if you agree to do it."

Another silence over the phone, punctuated with a small cacophony of pops and clicks. "Why don't you come down to my office, Mr...?"

"Jon will suffice, Harry. I'll be there in a half-hour."

=-=-=-=-=-

Raven slammed the book she was studying closed. Her bout of frustrated anger was cut off sharply by a coughing fit caused be the subsequent cloud of dust. After regaining control of her pulmonary system, she huffed out a sharp breath.

It had been days since Jon left and she was barely any farther along in her research. She had examined the relevant tomes, allowed her spirit to walk deeper into the Kithados than was strictly prudent, and had even summoned up spirits to question. The same maddening information was gleaned: something is coming, sometime soon.

The more benevolent spirits had suggested that Raven head for the hills, but none had given her any more information to work with.

Her contemplations were broken by the chiming of her communicator. A poised countenance fell around her, comfortable and well-worn as her favourite cloak. "Raven here."

Robin's face peered back at her, confused. "Raven... you have a phone call."

A slow blink, followed by a small smile. "Patch it through the communicator?"

"Sure." His face winked out, replaced by the Titan emblem.

"Raven here," she repeated.

"Rachel! This is Jon. How are you?"

Casting a baleful glare over the reagents and tomes that littered her room she responded with a dry, "I've been better."

"Exactly what I thought," Jon said, smug satisfaction dripping from his tone. "You're overworking yourself aren't you?"

Raven drew breath to reply, but he continued on as though he wasn't expecting one. "Luckily, I have just the thing to get your mind out of the doldrums. Can you meet me at Kobiyashi Tower? I'd have given you more warning, but-"

=-=-=-=-=-

A black disc appeared on the sidewalk ahead of me, and Rachel levitated out of it. I blinked before hanging up the phone. "-but it all came together at the last minute," I finished. "Rachel, you made good time."

Her reply was succinct. "I needed a break."

I gestured for her to follow, and moved towards an idling limousine. "I figured that with you hunting for information and preparing to fight the Nephilim, time would become a rather precious commodity. As such," I opened the door to the limo and waited for her to enter before I followed. "As such, I figured I should get the date that you owe me now rather than later."

Her brow furrowed slightly. "I'm not sure I have time for a date."

"Are you sure?" I asked with a smirk. I pulled out two tickets and held them fanned out next to my eyes. "They're only good for tonight, and I'd hate to think that they'd go to waste."

Rachel caught a glimpse of the tickets in my hand and snatched them with a flare of telekinetic greed. "Did you...?"

"I did."

"You couldn't have."

"Yet, I did."

"Jon," she paused for a long moment, and then looked directly into my eyes and said, "these are tickets for Jekyll and Hyde. On Broadway. The Broadway. The one in New York. On the other side of the country. Tonight."

"Hmm. So they are. Hopefully I thought ahead for transportation." I rapped sharply on the opaque divider between the driver and the passenger compartment. The vehicle pulled away from the curb with a smooth motion.

She slumped back against the leather seats. "Drink?" I offered as I pulled open the mini-bar. She eyed the bottles warily before heaving a sigh and tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Why not? Whatever you're having."

I nodded and proceeded to mix together a shaker of Southern Comfort Manhattan. Two glasses finished off the shaker rather handily, and we sat back to enjoy the beverages. Rachel took a sip, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Tasty, isn't it?" I asked, sipping my own cocktail. "I apologize for our first dinner outing. After I learned of your... particular condition... I did some research and learned that it likely had some... deleterious effects?"

She snorted delicately. "You could say that," she replied. "Most food causes problems for me. If Arform hadn't nearly killed me, I would have been locked in my room sick for two or three days."

"Luckily," I brandished my martini glass, "liquids are fair game."

"Indeed."

Some time passed in easy silence as we consumed our refreshments. Rachel tensed suddenly.

Concerned, I knocked back my Manhattan and placed the empty glass back where it belonged. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She gestured vaguely to herself and blushed. "I'm... not exactly dressed for a night on Broadway."

I grinned and pulled a curtain that been ignored so far to the side, revealing an evening dress. "I would suggest that you cease worrying. I have thought of everything for the evening. You can change on the plane."

"...plane?" she asked in a small voice, surprise having temporarily reduced her to repetitious confirmations.

"Yes. I chartered a jet for the evening. We will arrive in New York at approximately four o'clock in the evening, local time. The show begins at eight o'clock."

"Jon," she said as she regained control of herself. "How can you possibly afford all of this?"

"Well, I am a successful author-"

"Not that successful."

I glared at her half-heartedly. "Quiet, you. In my home dimension I am that successful."

"I didn't think they had interdimensional banks in this country."

"They don't," I responded with a chuckle. "Cyborg and Robin simply didn't uncover all of my history, is all."

"Really." She looked less than impressed. "What is it that you do to bring in all of this money then? Traffic in drugs? Weapons?" Her mouth curled into a subtle, nearly indiscernible expression somewhere between disgust and lust as she said, "Slaves?"

"Nothing quite so exotic, I'm afraid. I do music."

An eyebrow raised slightly. "You sing?"

"I do. I also know my way around a mixer, but primarily I sing. It's something I discovered in my last dimension, and when I came here I thought that I could capitalize upon it. If I found a band that I knew of but didn't exist here or some such, I would simply record their songs and sell them as my own."

"That doesn't seem entirely... moral."

"Well, I did my best. Understand that when I entered this dimension I had the clothes on my back and a few books. I had no identifying papers, no money, and no contacts. As the saying goes, 'Desperate times call for desperate measures.' I did try to do right by the original artists, however. I acknowledge them by name as inspirations and such. Considering that most of them don't even exist on this plane of reality, I think I've a right to survival."

"Survival is one thing, Jon. Private chartered jets are another."

I had the grace to look embarrassed. "Yes, well... things sort of snowballed. Besides, the money allowed me to track down and obtain that which will be necessary to win this little war that is about to erupt."

I winced as I that I had revealed more information than was prudent. I hoped desperately that Rachel wouldn't pick up on it. Unfortunately, she was nearly as sharp as I am when it came to such things.

"What war?" she asked sharply.

"Nothing, Rachel. I cannot tell you anything about it, by order of my Princess." I held my hands apart in a gesture of helplessness. "I wish I could, but there is nothing I can do until certain events transpire." I reached across the limo and grasped one of her hands in mine. "Trust me. I have been charged-- by powers greater than royalty-- to ensure your victory."

She slumped a bit and sighed before scooting closer and growling for reassurance. I growled back. Reassurance, after all, was just about all I could offer her.

"Now, let's forget the coming conflicts and enjoy the evening."

"Ok," she replied as she-- very lightly-- leaned against me.

My contentment was marred, however, by the misdirection that I had laid upon her. For you see, while I had been charged with ensuring Rachel's victory, it had nothing to do with the tragedies that I knew were coming.

And it had said nothing about her friends.