Five weeks earlier…

Jericho knew it was a bad idea. A terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad idea. He knew he should stay as far away from Jump City as possible, go back to his mountain, and hope his location had not been too irreparably compromised. He especially needed to avoid running into anyone connected to him. No matter what the rumors were, Jericho knew he couldn't truly have died, and the last thing he wanted was for his new friends to learn of Jericho's connection to him. But he also knew that the Titans would be suspicious if he refused to visit Titans Tower with the other Honoraries. Plus, the Herald was going. Herald was Jericho's way home. So Jericho accepted Beast Boy's invitation and resolved to stay as close to the Herald as possible. If any trouble arose, he could rely on his trumpet-wielding friend to teleport him away before he was recognized.

Though he was initially tense, Jericho gradually began to relax and even enjoy himself. Everything seemed so normal; well, as normal as a party full of super-powered teenagers celebrating their victory over the ominous Brotherhood of Evil could be. He just hoped he hadn't been seen when they had gone after Dr. Light earlier. He had attempted to obscure himself behind other superpowered teens and avoid all the action, and he doubted anyone would would focus solely on him with all of the other heros present. Still, he could never be certain…

His plan of sticking close to Herald went fairly well. Since Herald was one of the few people who could understand Jericho and the two were undeniably best friends, no one questioned it.

Nevertheless, he attempted to get to know as many of the other Titans as possible. The pink-haired crystal girl named Kole followed him around a lot. Even though Kole knew no sign language, she was nice, albeit not overly concerned with personal space. They wrote notes to each other in a notebook Raven had leant him until a massive, jealous caveman dragged Kole away.

To general astonishment, Jericho and Raven became fast friends. Raven used her powers to read Jericho's mind-with permission, of course-as well as project her thoughts into his, and the two were able to communicate effortlessly. Each could tell the other was hiding things, but neither pressed the other for information, which they equally found refreshing. When the celebration became too loud for them to handle, Raven took Jericho to the roof for a while and they had a pleasant little chat about poetry. Jericho even dared to make up a few jesting phrases about Dr. Light's reaction upon finding himself surrounded by superheroes, and Raven in particular.

Jericho wondered if anyone had ever bothered to tell Raven she had a nice smile. She certainly didn't show it often. Just as he was about to ask, Kid Flash had appeared next to them, accompanied by a gust of wind that made Raven pull her hood back over her head and hide her face. He threw an arm across Jericho's shoulders, which made the smaller boy flinch slightly.

"Hey, Blondie, they want you downstairs," he declared. "Something about storytime and a video game tournament."

"Beast Boy is going to die tonight," Raven muttered, disappearing into the shadows with a swish of her cloak. Jericho wasn't sure if he should huff out a silent giggle or be seriously concerned.

Kid Flash ruffled Jericho's already messy curls and super sped them back to the main room, where Beast Boy made Jericho uncomfortable by going on and on about how cool it was when little Jericho took control of the massive Cinderblock. Jericho was then forced into the video game tournament, while the Herald was engaged in a deep conversation about interdimensional physics or something with Raven. The blonde guitar player was about to sneak away again when Kid Flash insisted upon having Jericho on his team, even though it was clear Jericho hadn't handled technology in quite some time. However, Flash's speed more than made up for Jericho's unsteadiness, though the speedster would insist it was because Jinx was his good luck charm (or, rather, everyone else's bad luck charm). Thanks to Cyborg having an unfortunate accident with a glass of fruit punch, Kid Flash and Jericho even managed to win the tournament, though Jericho appeared seriously affronted with the couple's methods, much to everyone's amusement. In the end, Jericho decided he liked Kid Flash. He reminded Jericho of how his older brother used to be, before he started bullying him.

It was nice, in Jericho's opinion, to finally just relax around a group of people his own age. People who accepted him, who had their own flaws and secrets, who were glad to have a place to belong.

Two days later, Jericho and Herald were among the last to leave. Although Jericho was relieved to be putting half a world between himself and Jump, he was sad to be leaving all his new friends. The hardest part was when Robin pulled him aside.

"The Titans and I talked about it, and we were wondering if you wanted to stay in Jump a while longer. Since you get along so well with everyone, I-we-wanted to try you out as a member of the team," Robin said.

"No pressure," the Boy Wonder added hurriedly. "We just think you could really do some good around here."

Raven could see the heartbreak in Jericho's eyes when he shakily signed that he would need time to consider the offer, but he really did have to get back to his mountain and see what could be salvaged. Perhaps, in time, if they still wanted him, he could return. For now, Jericho needed his mountain.

Herald dropped him off on the sunny mountain peak, promising to come back and visit as soon as things calmed down in his own dimension. Jericho pulled the taller boy into a hug.

Be safe, Jericho signed when they separated.

"Don't worry about me," Herald laughed. With a wave and a blast of his horn, Herald stepped through a portal.

Then, Jericho was all alone.

Almost one week had passed when it happened.

The day began like any other, with Jericho leaving his comfortably but simply decorated cave in the side of the mountain and climbing the summit to greet the rising sun. The previously trampled flowers were recovering well, and Jericho had already cleared the debris from his skirmish with Fang and Private H.I.V.E. Jericho then sat atop his favorite rock and experimented with a gentle melody on his guitar, his fingers gliding effortlessly along the strings.

It didn't take long for Jericho to sense that something was wrong. There was far less birdsong than usual, and there was a feeling in the air that instantly set the body-jumper on edge. Setting his guitar carefully against the rock, Jericho leapt off and landed in a battle stance a few meters away. He heard the snap of a twig and whipped his head in the direction of the sound.

Suddenly, five men appeared, rushing him from all directions. They were heavily armed, obviously well trained, and wore helmets with a specialized reflective material over the eyes. They knew of his powers, then, and-judging by the weapons-they knew he had been trained to fight.

Time seemed to slow as Jericho's heart hammered in his ears.

Don't panic, he told himself. You know what to do. Remember what they taught you.

Leaping high into the air, Jericho grabbed onto two of the men's helmets and slammed them together as hard as he could, immediately followed by him pushing down on their heads and using their momentum to propel himself foot-first into another of these soldiers. One heel smashed through the reflective face-mask, followed by a kick to the chest that allowed him to spring over and tackle the fourth man. They toppled to the ground, with Jericho on top, and struggled for the man's gun until Jericho managed to hit the soldier in the face with the butt of it. He then took the weapon and spun around, firing at the fifth man who was now taking aim at the blonde. Jericho did not hesitate with his shots, hitting the man's firearms and rendering them useless.

"That won't do, Joey. These men won't hesitate to kill you, even if you don't want to kill them. Do it again, with feeling this time!"

He then pointed the weapon at the man's chest, gesturing for him to raise his arms above his head.

There was no time for interrogation, however, as Jericho heard another wave of footsteps approaching from all directions once more. Landing a shot in the center of the fifth man's bulletproof vest, Jericho then dove to the ground as a hail of darts passed over his head.

Darts. So they weren't trying to kill him. They wanted him alive. But why? Who were these people, and how did they find him? The why must have had something to do with one of his parents, but which one? What did they want?

Jericho would have to save those questions for later. He knew the gun he currently held contained real bullets, which he was rather unwilling to use. However, there were now a dozen armored men coming over the ridge, and he'd have to cut the numbers down before taking them on physically if he wanted to last long enough to call for backup.

Ducking behind a boulder, Jericho avoided another wave of darts before peering around and firing at them, hitting the weaker places in their armor to cause maximum damage without risking actually killing them. He hated the feeling of the firearm going off in his hands. He hated having to fight. He hated being reminded so completely of the lessons he gave.

"Never show you're surprised. You catch them off guard, never the other way around. And you never, ever surrender. Understood?"

The twelve men were followed by about twenty more, and Jericho knew it was useless. Still, he would not allow himself to surrender. He would not be weak. He would not be afraid this time. If he was to fall today, he would go down fighting.

Jericho pulled out his communicator. If he could just contact Herald, maybe he could get out of this and figure out who was after him and why. He pushed the emergency call button. Nothing happened. They must have been blocking the signal! They didn't want him calling for backup. Were they after him because of his connection to the Titans, then, or were they telling him not to get the teen heroes involved? If they found the communicator, they would use it against him, regardless.

I can't be the reason everyone's in trouble again, not so soon after the Brotherhood… Not after they were so accepting, making me a part of something without even wondering if it could get them all killed… The memory of seeing his mother unconscious on the floor through a haze of smoke flashed through his mind. He clenched his hand around the communicator.

Not again… not for me…

Knowing he had little time before the mercenaries would be upon him, Jericho hid his Titans communicator in a special cavity at the base of the boulder where it met the ground. Once he was satisfied the communicator would not be discovered, Jericho took a deep breath and leapt back over the rock. His sudden charge caught the men off guard. He managed to shoot down around another dozen of them before they reached him, and then it became a game of dodging, weaving, hitting them as hard as he could. He felt a sting in his arm as he failed to avoid one of the darts. It didn't put him under immediately (they must not have factored his mutant DNA into the dosage), but the dart still made him dizzy and nauseous. As he wrenched the dart from his arm, he felt a strong grip on his other bicep. Jericho thrust his head upward, catching the man hard under the chin, but another dart caught one of his legs and the butt of a gun caught his shoulder.

A silent cry escaped his lips as he spun, whipping the metal object in his hands like a club, sending another attacker flying. More soldiers continued to appear from all directions, no matter how many Jericho hit and took down. His continued resistance was met with more darts and harsh blows. He felt himself rapidly losing consciousness as pain and tranquilizers took over. The fight trailed across the mountain and down the side, where the trees gave Jericho a temporary respite before his attackers caught up with him. Unfortunately, he was too disoriented to last much longer.

He finally fell, gasping, to the ground, beaten and surrounded. A pair of steel-toed combat boots filled his vision, and his eyes trailed up to glare into the shielded eyes of their owner. He saw the mercenary raise the gun and aim the butt of it at his face before bringing it down.

Then, everything went black.