Covering Old Tracks

No one was going to say anything about how wan they looked. Kori had gotten into a mood, and they suffered so that no one else had to. How long did it take for new taste buds to replace old damaged ones? Well, that was a quick Google search away, but Victor was letting the mechanical parts of his body handle all the questionable digestion issues he had made recently.

Kori looked happy, though. That was what mattered and not the fact that many of them had a night long date with the toilet tonight.

To get their minds off those particular woes, it was briefing time. The teenage cyborg who was so close to aging into adulthood had finished all the testing and research that Red had asked of him the night before, as well finished bragging about his car to the newbie among all of his technological marvels. He lost track of time with that last one and it was heading to the rec room that he, Bart, and Miguel had been waylaid.

Bart seemed to have the biggest tolerance, but maybe that was due to his "beggars can't be choosers" attitude when it came to food. Miguel…he'd been cocky and curious and paid for and continued to pay for his arrogance. At least he had recuperated enough to be in attendance. After the newest arrival, everyone else had their turn for better or for worse.

Kori found it delicious and no one had the heart to tell her the truth.

"I think we'll start with the blue stuff," Victor said as he stood in front of the couch that held a crowd. Everyone was sitting on those soft cushions, and there was more than one hand resting on particular stomach regions. Kori was an exception as she was putting away the leftovers in the refrigerator. She could still hear so long as he projected his voice. "It wasn't easy, because a lot of the stuff you check for it didn't go kosher with. It's nontoxic, it dries pretty quickly at room temperature, the bottle Red picked up was designed to protect it from temperatures and keep it in a liquid state. It doesn't emit any fumes, it's not flammable, it doesn't reflect light well enough to blind you, it just sits where it's sprayed and hardens in seconds."

After that laundry list, it was natural for Cassie to want to get to the point. It seemed she was in a mood as well, but that was the kind of mood that always showed up after being one of Kori's guinea pigs. Sure, she and Red were late to the party, but those Tamaranean meals could be out for quite some time without losing their…potency. "So what does it do?"

"I had to do a lot of tests on this one. A ridiculous amount of tests," Victor said dryly, a pointed look towards Red that was slightly accusatory because how dare he ask him to work on this right before getting some beauty sleep. For the time being, he'd put resentment aside until he found out if all of his efforts were for nothing. "I went through everything, but ultimately found out that it's…slippery."

There was a heartbeat of silence in which only the closing of the refrigerator broke it.

"It's slippery," Red repeated.

"Yeah, to an insane degree," the cyborg confirmed. "It's frictionless."

Terra, from her place smack down in the middle of the couch, and so in the middle of most of the recovering teens, looked left to right and back to left before asking, "So…what does that mean?" The fact there was no pain in her voice definitely added to her reputation of having an iron stomach.

"Anyone who steps on it will lose their balance," Red answered.

"That doesn't sound like much," Cassie scoffed.

"Unless you have someone running faster than the eye can keep up," Red continued. "No friction, doesn't matter how fast they go, their speed will not save them and they trip—"

"And go face first into a car!" Bart finished quickly. The speedster looked thoughtful. "That explains a lot."

"Any…particular…reason?" Raven was speaking much slowly, giving away her reputation as a lightweight in the stomach competition.

"There's no way anyone keeps something like that on their person. No one in any manufacturing jobs, no niche areas that need absolutely no friction, our world depends and counts on it." Their glorious leader here was thinking this through, but that didn't stop Victor from verifying. So far, Red was hitting it out of the park. "The only reason anyone would bring something like that…would be to use it on…no, as a weapon. Car loses traction and goes into a ditch. Soldiers can't keep their footing. Artillery has their accuracy thrown off."

"But no military in the world uses it," Victor reported.

"Meaning it had to have been intended for Kid Flash," Red finished grimly. "Ravager brought that stuff on purpose. Or someone else gave it to him."

"But who would give this substance to Ravager?" Attention turned towards Kori who was approaching from the kitchenette. "For what purpose would this serve?"

Red looked thoughtful. "That he showed up when the same group of people who attacked the transport are the same ones who ambushed us at Highland Mall makes me think it's all connected. We were being recorded at the mall, and then this Ravager shows up and tries to kill us. If it weren't for Miguel's intervention, he might have succeeded with me."

Slouching at the edge of the couch, Miguel held up an arm lazily. "No problem."

"So what if the fight at the mall was recorded for Ravager?" Red continued.

"Um, why?" BB was adding his two cents.

"See how we fight? What we do in the middle of a battle? When crazy stuff happens, what do we do to protect ourselves?" Each question made their team leader sound more and more uncertain. "We're still missing pieces. Too many. We either have to wait for another ambush or we draw them out on purpose. Not knowing what they are trying to accomplish is only going to make that harder."

Cyborg took that all in and thought about it himself. It did feel like they were missing something. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it could be. They did have a lot of pieces…but were they fitting them in the right spots?

"Cyborg, what about that device Miguel gave us?" Red was moving on, and so the cybernetic teen went with the flow.

"Small, compact, easy to carry, so it was designed to be portable," he said. "It's hi-tech; someone put a lot of love in developing it and then butchered all they could to make it mass producible. You can tell where some corners were cut, but they kept a lot in it. It has scanners, some hardware that has some sophisticated hacking programs loaded onto it, can pop out extensions that grip onto any surface, and last but not least, it can make calls at vast distances from one end of the world to the other."

That last bit got him some stares. Okay, maybe he shouldn't have tried his best impression of a salesman so spontaneously—

"Dude, you're saying that's a phone?" BB asked, eyes wide.

He stood up for you more than you knew, Grass Stain. Stop making it so hard. "It's a phone that can hack into any database it wants based on proximity. It's a lot like those communicators we have but don't use a lot. Just with a little more added to it."

"So we have blue slippery stuff and a supped up smart phone. What is that suppose to tell us?" Wonder Girl, always to the point. "What are we suppose to make out of all of this?"

A lot of eyes went to Red, waiting for him to reason out some BS that they would follow to hell and back and somehow it would wrap this all up in a bow. No wait, that's what happened when Batman was on the case. Still, Red had a noggin, but Cyborg figured he could give it a push.

"There's one more thing." Now all eyes were back on him. "I tried to figure out just who would make this handy dandy gadget, and I got a hit from the evidence locker that happens to be located at a certain police department right here in Jump City. Turns out, it was bagged from Gizmo and it's identical to the one we have here in the Tower."

"Which means there is a connection between our odd sparing friends, Ravager, and the men from Miguel's home," Red concluded. The frown that not even his facemask could hide gave away that he wasn't patting himself on the back. "But we're still missing something."

"So shall we not venture out and find these missing pieces?" Starfire asked. "Perhaps there are pieces that our common enemy has also neglected to hide?"

"That's exactly what we're going to do." Red stood up, but his back still a little hunched over, a tremor running up his body. Just another side effect of the Tamaranean delicacy tucked away in the fridge. Once he did stand tall, "We need to go back to the two places we know they were at. We split into two groups, one goes back to the mall and try to find anything that might have been missed. The other goes back to the attacked precinct and goes over the area, two blocks in each direction. Cyborg, I want you to scan the airwaves, police frequencies too, and see if there's any chatter we need to check in on."

Cyborg gave a sharp nod and set up the program he needed. Right now, scanning the airwaves in Jump would be a good start. Looking for any interesting chatter or any kind of alarms might go a long way into bringing this latest case of theirs to an end all the sooner. No sense letting it drag on for longer than necessary.

"You want two groups? Who do you plan to team up?" Raven finally piped up, giving yet another long, pointed look at their team leader.

"I'll lead the team at the precinct. I want Beast Boy and Kid Flash with me. Cyborg will lead the team at the mall. Starfire and Raven can go with you," Red was listing off. By his count, that left two who hadn't been assigned yet.

"I'll head to the precinct with you. You might need someone with a bird's eye view who isn't a bird," Wonder Girl volunteered herself.

That left Terra on his team. "Hey, why can't I be with Terra?" Ah, and there was the first complaint. Cyborg found himself eyeing Green Bean who was sitting up straighter.

"The precinct will have a fresher trail compared to the mall. You're the only one we have who can follow scent trails, provided there has been enough environmental degradation. Kid Flash can cover enough ground faster than anyone else. Each team needs someone who will be able to recognize something out of the ordinary, and are you going to try and change Wonder Girl's mind?" Red summed up his argument.

Before the shapeshifter could respond, Miguel piped up, "I could join a team. Five and four, works better?"

"No offense, but you're too new to this," Red denied. "These are some dangerous people and who knows what they'll make of your arrival. They might try to pull something while you're out with us. For the time being, it would be best for you to stay here."

The Latino male frowned at the answer given to him. "I'm sure I can take care of myself—"

There was an odd sound, not quite gurgling, but definitely of a bodily origin. It was like a ripping hum, one that came from something inside, and it tended to warn that something was about to be expelled. Which end? Only the most convenient. The hint of green that lit up Miguel's face gave away just whose digestive system was rebelling.

In concern, Starfire looked over the not quite hearty guy. "Is there something the matter?"

Dark eyes flickered up and gazed into earnest green. Oh, Cyborg knew that look and could practically read Miguel's thoughts through his eyes. It was not a secret that everyone here had a soft spot for the local Tamaranean, seeing her as the big sister they never knew they wanted. Or maybe it was little. It was still a mystery just how old she was in Earth years.

With an uneasy smile, Miguel said, "I think something is not agreeing with me. I think I will…stay. Rest. I have…been…traveling—yes!—traveling for a long time and maybe I'm more tired than I thought I was. Maybe ate something that decided it didn't like me along the way. I think rest is a great idea."

Nice save.

"If you are feeling below the meteorological phenomena, we have facilities that will be able to administer to your depressed climate," sweet, sweet Starfire offered, her head tilting to a side while her smile offered nothing but sincerity.

Miguel seemed lost, but he went with it. "I think the couch is fine, but I appreciate the offer."

Red gave a sharp nod of his head. "Then let's get to it. We got a long night ahead of us."


It was turning out not to be a long night.

The lot where the police transport van had been attacked was still cordon off, yellow tape sealing off the exits. Not that that had been an obstacle for Red Robin or any of the Teen Titans, but making sure they weren't spotted as more of a preference. He didn't want to have to deal with any of the, ahem, resistance that might come from asking to be on the premises. It still was an area that belonged to the JCPD, their property, and under the best of circumstances access here was restricted.

So they weren't going to tell them, sneaking in and doing what they needed to do under cover of darkness. Well, as dark as a city could get with all the lit-up lampposts.

Red Robin kept to the ground, looking around for anything that might have been missed. The hardened puddle of frictionless stuff was still staining the pavement where it had been squirted. The bottom he recalled it coming from was at the Tower where Cyborg had been testing whatever contents remained in it. The vehicles were still where they had been stopped or parked. This was an active crime scene and all, but the elements would be degrading it by the second.

He could see where bricks and mortar littered the area beside an adjacent building, the same one that Starfire had pinned Ravager against for a brief time. A search there brought up nothing. Next was the gate that Cyborg had hacked; still intact and no signs of any damage or tampering. The various areas where they had fought the team of criminal metahumans held clues, but only as to who was involved. Innocuous rocks were Terra's doing, anything that looked like something freaky had happened to or from within resembled Jinx's handiwork, indents on the transport van that resembled hands were obviously Mammoth, burn marks to lava guy, and…those looked like claw marks. Either that was Beast Boy or perhaps one of the new nameless metahumans.

What he wasn't finding was anything that looked like it had been dropped there. Like the squeeze bottle Ravager had tossed aside, that was what he was looking for and so far was not finding anything. Oh, there was all the damage, but those were hardly clues. This wasn't like finding camera equipment at Highland Mall which had been intended to be hidden.

But there were other options to find something of substance. Wonder Girl was keeping high and getting the bird's-eye view of the lot. Kid Flash was checking everything around the lot, especially the area where Ravager had last been seen. Lastly, Beast Boy was going bloodhound and trying to sniff down the trail the killer left in his wake.

They were going at this from multiple angles, and while their enemies seemed to have the numbers on them, there was a chance that all their power and skill did not make up for covering their tracks. A single second of carelessness was all that was needed, a single clue left behind, and it would be something the Titans could use to track them down or predict their next move.

It just needed to be found first. Shift through rubble, check under cars, peer into shadows, walk along the perimeter, there had to be something just waiting to be found.

What he ended up finding was a pair of golden boots that were standing in his way. From behind his domino mask, his eyes trekked upwards until they found Wonder Girl's.

"Coming up squat, Red," she reported. Turning her head in the direction he had last seen Beast boy, "Green Bean's been circling the same spot for ten minutes. Saw him go bird and hit the rooftops but he always goes back to this one spot. I sometimes catch Speedy Gonzales, but it's barely for a second and he's still running around. I don't think we're gonna find anything."

From his belt, he slipped out the circular communication device that was intended to be standard issue for all Titans members. At least, that was the plan if expansion was in the future. Pressing his thumb down on one particular spot, he spoke, "Kid Flash, Beast Boy. Report in. Did you find anything?"

His answer wasn't immediate, which was to be expected, and naturally it was Kid Flash who answered first. "They don't do a lot of cleaning around here do they? There's a lot of trash around here. I've been through it all. Nothing. I haven't found anything. Say, somebody didn't finish their sandwich—oh, mold. Hmm. Well…"

"Don't even think about eating it." It didn't need to be said, but sometimes with a kid from the future who indicated that food security had been a part of his upbringing needed to be told when not to eat something. Plus, hadn't Starfire's cooking done enough damage? Why add to that? "Beast Boy, what about you?"

"I can't pick up his trail. I start where that blue stuff is, right? Follow it over the wall, take a left and then bam, it disappears. I tried going up, see if he's like a spider monkey and climbed the walls but there's no trail up there. Nothing on roofs. I got bupkis. It's like he just disappeared into thin air."

That was not what he was looking for…but…Wykkyd. A teleporter. These guys could disappear into thin air thanks to him. That was how they had gotten Gizmo and the other two out without anyone noticing, so of course they had a way out in case of escape or pursuit. Trying to pick up any trail would be useless.

"Cyborg, come in. Have you found anything?" Since he was checking in, might as well see how the other team was doing.

"Still a mess," was the immediate reply. "We're still going over the mall with a fine toothed comb but this is a big place and they only used a fraction of it. We could be here all night for all I know. But so far no new Gizmo cameras, nothing in any of the stores, and I don't even want to think about the department stores."

Would it make more sense for the rest of them to head over to Highland Mall and help out? They so far hadn't found anything here and—

"Sounds to me these guys aren't going to make the same mistake twice," Wonder Girl interrupted his thoughts. "Sticking around here isn't going to change anything."

"Then we can do a patrol," the masked teen began to say. If it was like last time with Jinx and her crew, there would be a heist or in this case an ambush. All they needed to do was spring it, maybe had some of the team outside of the probable ambush who could flank the attackers.

"How about a change in pace?" the blonde in the gold armor and red leotard suggested.

A…change of pace? "What? We set up an ambush of our own?"

Wonder Girl shook her head in the negative. "I have something different in mind."

Okay. Where was she going with this? "What do you have in mind?"

"Let's give the children the night off. Nobody's going to be on their A-game after we got ambushed by Starfire. You and I, we meet elsewhere. Make sure to get into something more comfortable." Was it him, or was she eyeing him slyly?

"We still need—"

"The city will still be standing. And like you say a lot of times, when something big goes down, it makes all the crooks out there shy."

"I don't think the jailbreak last night counts as big, just an opening—"

"And we need to take care of ourselves as much as the city. That means breaks. Random so that no one gets big ideas and takes advantage. If we don't care of ourselves, who will? We started out great tonight, but it's going nowhere. It might be only a matter of time until we get aftereffects from whatever made that…what Starfire made. We can do better by redirecting our energies, yeah? Cyborg can do more tests on what we do have, and he can also relax because being a cyborg means you can actually multitask. Everyone else can focus on healing their stomachs."

He tried to make another argument, the key word being try.

"And if Raven gets on your case, I'll handle it. Everyone here looks up to you for leadership, and they get that there's pressure and shit. They won't blame you for needing a break. Well, maybe Raven would, no idea what's gotten into her head lately, but I'll take care of her. Come on. It's still early and we can use some real fun."

Red Robin wanted to continue arguing, however, Wonder Girl had a stroke of luck when she got unexpected, but in hindsight completely expected, help.

"Fun? Oh, are you two talking about letting us off early? That would be so crash. There's like a hundred things I want to do, and I could probably get it all done in a minute. Don't really need all that time, sixty seconds? Pfft, too long. So? Can we start now? Can we go do our own things tonight? Please, oh please, oh please, oh please!"

Now Kid Flash was getting into the action, and like a dog with a bone, he wasn't letting go. Was it him, or was there a pleased smirk on Wonder Girl's face? The self-satisfaction she expressed by crossing her arms seemed to add credence to that.

"Look, you want to disappoint the boy?" And now she was taking advantage of the speedster's presence. "It's just for tonight. We'll make it all up tomorrow. Come on, what do you say?"

Every fiber of his being wanted to say no and to start patrol. That would be the responsible thing to do. They had a number of enemies out there, up to something, and the longer it went on, the more likely people were going to be hurt. Already there was a hostage situation and a hit at this very lot no less. Emotional turmoil and psychological trauma were already in play, but so far no serious injuries that would end with a stay in the hospital, intensive care a possible outcome.

So say it. Say no. Say what they needed to do. Taking a break? That's what you did after it was over.

A flapping of wings indicated there was a new arrival. "Hey, what's all this about calling it early? Oh, I know exactly what we can do! If someone has a problem, we could, uh, call it a team building thing! Team building is important, right? So let's do some team building!"

"That's a great idea, BB! Team building! Come on Red, BB has a great idea and we got to do it!"

"He's not wrong, Red. Perhaps we could do with some team building."

Is that what they were going with? Is that the big argument? There was merit, of course, but he had his suspicion of what "team building" could be. But now he had two pairs of eyes, one discolored by yellow-colored lens, and the other green, and both trying to mimic puppy dogs, while a blue pair challenged him to go against. There were probably plenty of other arguments ready to be used.

The teen vigilante licked his lips. Then he held up the communicator still in his hand.

"Cyborg? We got a change in plans."


This was so awesome! He couldn't believe it! Pinch him—ow. Ow. Okay, this really was happening and he wasn't dreaming about it. But his nails, oh wow, there were getting a little long. Really long. He might need to clip them.

Anyway, Red had caved in to peer pressure and they had the night! Well, most of it, but at least that little bit at the start helped to strengthen their argument. Sure, Wonder Girl had dragged Red off which had left him and Kid Flash to head back to the Tower, but maybe those two needed some alone time. Even he could see those two had been dancing around each other and it was getting annoying. Figures Wonder Girl would make the first move. Well, duh, of course she would be the one to make the first move.

In the meantime, Beast Boy had gotten in contact with Cyborg himself and made plans. There was no sense in letting this night go to waste and his best bud was totally on board.

Don't get him wrong, the superhero business was serious business, and needed your A game, but nobody could keep that up twenty-four seven. Even the greats needed time off. Hell, he bet even Batman had some kind of bat cave he holed up in to get a break from the world. And if Batman needed to take breaks, that meant it was okay for everyone else to take breaks. It wasn't like he was locked up in some prison against his will or anything.

There was also another reason. See, there was that new guy, Miguel, all the way from Mexico. That was a long way from home. Wouldn't blame the guy for missing it. Not that the shapeshifter could for overstated reasons that seemed to always come up, always. So, for somebody who could remember home, why not try to make this easier on him? Do something fun and show him the Teen Titans knew when to take it easy.

Plus…Kori. Nothing against her, but he was feeling a little off from her…oh, that stomach spasm there could not be good. Rest! That's what the doctor ordered, right?

Now, it wasn't going to be perfect because this was so last minute. When it came to minutes, that's where you recruited Kid Flash. The speedster was on board too, so getting some snacks together, the good stuff in case you were wondering, and maybe some authentic cuisine from another country was in the bag. Had to remind the digestive tract what real food was.

This just left three others. He started with the easiest and planned on moving to the hardest as he went along. It didn't take any effort to get Terra on board. She was a girl after his heart, after all. Man, she had really learned how to relax and enjoy life. Deserved it too.

Next came Kori. Girl had been doing nothing but training, teaching, training, kicking their butts, training, cooking, cooking something that had to be toxic somehow because when was anything that came out that shade of blue never toxic, and did he forget to mention training? Kori used to hang out, but all that big sister business had really gotten to her, hadn't it? So! A nice night of relaxation was called for, even if it was last minute and late.

And Kori, kind and nice and sweet Kori gave in after a little wheedling. All it took was a few pleases—and some puppy dog eyes—but all that mattered was that the Tamaranean said yes. So. That left one more. The hardest one. The one for whom her native language was No.

This meant he needed to get the big guns. Victor didn't seem so sure, but was willing to give it the old college try. Plus Raven liked him better. So if nothing else, the two of them would be shoved into a wall while being ejected from her room instead of being teleported and dropping into the bay. Even when it was nice and sunny out, that water was cold. Really cold. Plus he suspected there were natural whirlpools in there.

As the pair of them stood in front of Raven's room, doom and dread practically radiating off of it, Garfield with all the courage and sense of invincibility that came with being a teen, raised up a hand and gave a hearty knock onto the surface.

Then the two of them waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Frowning a little, Garfield took his life into his own hands once more and knocked again. Oh, and he put some force into it this time so the knocks were harder, meaning they would be…uh…louder? Made sense to him.

They waited some more, Victor shifted his weight from one leg to the other while the shapeshifter stood next to the cyborg staring at the door, waiting for it to open.

Okay, maybe one more time. Do it even harder. Surely that would get her attention, right?

Up his hand went, fingers curling to form a fist, and tensing his arm he made to knock—

The door slid open and his balled-up hand came to an abrupt stop right in front of Raven's face.

The shapeshifter's eyes were wide, his mouth open but teeth clenched tightly together, his breathing all but stopped, and his heart was pounding, pounding, pounding. Whoa, that had been close.

Raven raised an eyebrow; somehow he was able to tell that despite that hood pulled over her head and shadowing the top part of her face. "What do you two want?"

Bringing his hand back quickly, Garfield gave the most charming smile he could give and set about giving his pitch. "Since this is Miguel's first time here, we figured—"

"We? Whose we?" Victor muttered.

"—that we ought to give him a night to remember and treat him to a movie marathon of the best carnage, blood and guts, and all out outrageous shit that Hollywood has ever produced in the last twenty years! It's gonna be awesome."

There was something about those dark eyes, like they could drill their way into your very soul and still be unimpressed with what she would find. The green shapeshifter upped the charm and smiled even wider. Surely she couldn't resist this!

"No."

She could. Well shit. Time for plan B.

With a foot, he kicked Victor's leg which was the signal for his cyborg friend to slip his other titanium leg forward and into the doorway. Predictably, Raven tried to shut her door in their faces and this was the big reason he really wanted to bring Victor with him. Titanium feet were so much stronger than weaker fleshy ones.

Raven glared downward, then decided to give the two of them a taste. "Move."

"Oh come on!" Garfield tried again. "The first one's a real doozy! Cy managed to track it down and download it. It's called…" he gave a pause, hunching his shoulders and leaning closer, then looked to his left, then to his right, then right back at Raven. In a hushed voice, he practically breathed out, "...Wicked Scary. It's so frightening, it'll leave you petrified. And guess what else! It's rumored to be cursed; all kinds of things happened on set. They say the director had to go to an insane asylum afterwards—not Arkham, he wasn't driven that crazy—but it was said he spoke in tongues for weeks, tried to summon the devil, and thought spinach really did give you superstrength. He got better afterwards, but he was never the same again. Now tell me that you're going to say no to that! I dare you!"

"Alright. No."

Huh. She could. Well, time for plan C!

Looking up to Victor who shared with him the same look, the two of them squared their shoulders and faced off with the greatest challenge they had ever faced.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Raven asked.


Tonight had seemed promising. She shouldn't have let her hopes get up. Disappointment was always around the corner, run into like it was on schedule. Admittedly, the plan was a long shot.

To be given the night off early, Raven was beginning to think Red Robin wasn't cut out for a leadership position. Even if reexamining the only two locations of their most recent conflicts resulted in no significant progress, a patrol throughout the city should have been the follow up. Ensuring that the city was safe should still be a priority, should it not?

Red Robin—no, Timothy—was not living up to the example his dark role model in Gotham set. What was it? Was it a combination of giving into the whinings of two overly enthusiastic morons and the lack of progress enough for him to give in? Or was it Wonder Girl—Cassandra—who was responsible for him not stepping up? All three at the same time?

Her stomach gave a groan. She still hadn't recovered from Kori's generosity earlier. Not that that was an acceptable reason for ending a…night…prematurely…

This was frustrating. There was so much on the line. The others were dismissive, "going with the flow," and it was incredulous that they would be surprised that there would be resistance to their presence. This wasn't some fictional world; not everyone was happy to live in a city with metahuman symbols of public service. There would be objections, there was objections, and this meant that they would have to prove themselves.

The Justice League may have clout, but the Teen Titans didn't and all it took was a few politicians and bureaucrats in the right places to bring an end to this little experiment. This team needed a leader; it needed someone to keep it on track.

If not, there was the possibility that this initiative would be expelled and then what would happen to them? Before was a small yacht they had borrowed and little things like food were an ongoing problem. Keeping the boat docked anywhere was a close second. The initiative addressed those problems, but if certain individuals had it their way, then they would all be screwed.

Someone needed to be thinking of this bigger picture. Why did it have to be her? Why—

A knock at the door stopped her short. She barely turned her head to eye the manmade barrier. No words were spoken, her silence the answer to the query outside. Then there was a second knocking. Someone was very foolhardy, so whoever could it…

Oh. Sensing the emotions on the other side of the door, she detected both Victor and…Garfield. What did they want?

It soon became evident neither were leaving. She could feel the combination of determination and nervousness. Very well, fine, she would take care of this.

Just as she opened the door, she found a green fist stopping itself right in front of her face. You didn't need to be an empath to pick up the utter terror that radiated from the annoying shapeshifter which quickly masked itself.

Raising an eyebrow, she demanded, "What do you two want?"

Snatching his hand back, Raven noted how Garfield straightened up and attempted to give a…smile. It was stretched way too far and…what was he trying to do with his eyes? It was a weird look and another thing to add onto the long list of dislikes she had for the green idiot. Luckily, that "smile" didn't last as Garfield began to say, "Since this is Miguel's first time here, we figured—"

"We? Whose we?" Victor muttered, though he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was.

"—that we ought to give him a night to remember and treat him to a movie marathon of the best carnage, blood and guts, and all out outrageous shit that Hollywood has ever produced in the last twenty years! It's gonna be awesome." The smile returned as she stared and was it her or was it stretching even wider? Hadn't known a smile could get that wide. It was contorting his face unnaturally so she decided to end this farce as quickly as possible.

"No."

A simple answer. That was all that needed to be said. Effective and reasonable and that's how it should have ended except she hadn't thought Victor to be suicidal as he stuck his big foot in the doorway and prevented her door from sliding shut.

When glaring downwards changed nothing, she turned it upwards and gave a friendly ultimatum. "Move."

"Oh come on!" Garfield whined, and before she could stop him, he went on a long spiel. Of course it was about some horror movie that he claimed was terrifying and cursed and ended his ramble with a dare. Like a reasonable person, she accepted.

"Alright. No."

A second no, unheard of from her, but she would be magnanimous so long as Victor pulled his foot back, which he hadn't. Even trying to close the door one more time hadn't changed that fact, though in hindsight it had caused her to miss a nonverbal exchange between the original moron duo. The empath only realized her mistake when she found both of the males facing her with eyes blazing with defiance.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Raven asked.

Before she knew it, both soon-to-be dead men were on either side of her, picking her up and carrying her out of her sanctum and down the hallway. Her surprise at the maneuver surprised her, so much so she didn't know how to react. By the time she was able to muster the will, it was far, far too late.

The walking corpses had placed her on the couch in the recreational room and trapped her with a large bowl of popcorn settled onto her lap.

Her wrath for this audacity would know no boundaries.

While she stewed in fury, Raven was further imprisoned with Kori sitting to her right and the inspiration for this torment—Miguel—on her left. Between the seconds of impudent frustration, she wondered if this was what contributed to her descending opinion of Timothy, but then she gained a distraction.

"I haven't really seen you around, but you look very tense," Miguel remarked. "Um, Raven, right?" An arm began to rise, making its way towards her. "So what is it you—"

"If you like your arm attached, don't touch me," she nearly growled.

The arm redirected towards the popcorn and snagged several kernels, stuffing them into a mouth so that it had an excuse to not talk anymore.

"Now don't be like that," Garfield chided, the shapeshifter finishing his final preparations, which included the large television, high definition, while Victor uploaded the first selection of the night. "We're here to have fun."

"Against my will."

"Don't knock it until you try it. Ready, Cy?"

The other traitor gave a nod while retreating to one end of the couch. "Everything's a go, Green Bean."

"Right!" Two green hands clapped together, Raven noticing the red and white fingerless gloves covering them. Seemed like no one had changed out of their costumes, a sign of how quick Beast Boy had been able to corral them all. "Everybody, I hope you had no plans on sleeping tonight because we are able to watch movie history here. The scariest movie ever made, they don't remaster it ever, and you can't find it on DVD anywhere, but we got our hands on it and now we're about to see just how scary this is."

On the television screen behind the green dead man, various ads were skipped until the menu screen occupied the plasma monitor. Prominently and in stylized font was the title, Wicked Scary, and the various options under in, the word Play highlighted.

With a small jump and spin of his body, Garfield practically threw himself in the small space that existed between Kori and Terra, nearly bouncing with his landing. The bowl of popcorn resting on Raven's lap jostled and caused a few popped kernels to fall out and onto either the floor or the couch cushions. The latter would not be found for several months.

Stretching out an arm and giving a flourish of his hand, Garfield declared, "Hit it, Cy!"

The illuminated Play lit up, the screen fell into darkness just as the room's lights followed suit.