On an average day, most of the titans were playing a videogame. Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Jinx were playing a game called Brainiac Attack with mid-80's pixels like you would find with a certain mushroom turned brick killing psychopathic plumber. They were on the final level facing said villain with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter. That is until Robin flipped over the bed and declared,
"Titans, crime is afoot!"
"I always thought crime was a leg bro. Whaaaaa-" Cyborg joked as he went off in a self gratifying noise.
"Nah bro, if crime were anything, it would be a head. Oooooooo." Beast Boy added as both the boys laughed.
"Well I'll give Mr. Crime here a foot to the butt if he doesn't get out of the way. We're just about to beat Brainiac here." Jinx tried continuing to play the game, looking more to the left past robin's body.
"Ha, good one Jinx." Raven chuckled, getting a smile from the former villainess.
"Quiet!" The titan leader yelled. "Now, crime is a afoot is something I would say, if there was any crime that has happened, but for the past week, there has not been any. Realizing this, a thought came into my head. Starfire, I was wondering if you'd like to go on our first date together?" The alien girl gasped with a smile.
"As in in the romantic movies?!"
"Yes. I was thinking stargazing with a bit of dinner." Robin nodded and explained. Starfire went and hugged her boyfriend leader.
"Oh yes, I would very much enjoy to have the date with you! I so very much the love you Robin!"
"I love you too Star." The two then kissed, though not to a grossly sweet degree.
"About time you guys got a date." Jinx remarked with a face that seemed to say 'finally'. "It's like the whole time I've been here the only thing I've seen was romance between Raven and BB, even though you hooked up first."
"Oh man, how I wish I could see that. Do a bit of steaking out." Cyborg chuckled.
"Yeah, some juicy date sparks flying through the air bro!" Beast Boy agreed.
"Absolutely not. You guys should know better than stalk a dating couple on stakeouts." Robin told them off.
"What is the stakeout?" Starfire asked.
"Only the best way to anticipate crime, Star!" The metallic titan told her. He and the green teen then alternated on what one does on stakeouts.
"Hiding out in cars! Eating pizza and chocolate bars!"
"Staying up real late! And puking up what you ate!"
"It's just what we do!"
"Shaggy and Scooby Doo."
"Spot the creepy dude!"
"Stop the creepy dude!"
"Stop!" Robin yelled, interrupting their thing. "Yes, that's the simplistic way of what a stakeout is, but it's not as fun as one would think. It involves sitting in a car for hours on end looking at a place without looking away, and being bored for most of the time. And besides, you guys already know everything about our relationship. There aren't any secrets." After he affirmed this, Raven groaned as she held her head.
"Secrets, huh? At least I'm not one to probe them."
"And besides, you two are terrible at stakeouts. Remember Brother Blood last week?" Cutting back to last week, Brother Blood was nonchalantly eating a sandwich while Beast Boy peeked over the food counter.
"I see you." He whispered before peeking down. Cyborg then peaked over the table he was eating at.
"I see you toooo." He repeated. BB even stopped eating when a green spider dangled in front of his face.
"I still see yoooou."
"Hey, to be fair, he only got away because you called us away." Cyborg defended.
"Regardless, if I see anything technologically blue or unnaturally bright green on our date, I'm sentencing the two of you the punishment of cleaning every room in the tower by hand." Both of the guy titans complained and moaned, but were ignored as Robin turned to his girlfriend. "Starfire, shall we get prepared?"
"The prepared we shall be." The alien princess agreed as they left the room.
"Well, there goes me beating the high score." Jinx grumbled before standing up. I'm going off to read. Knock if you guys need anything." She then walked towards her room.
"Cy, are we really bad at stakeouts?" The green teen questioned his mechanical best friend. Raven answered.
"Yes, and anything else stealth related you try to do." Closing her book, she also headed to her room.
"Watcha' gonna be doing, Rave?" Beast Boy asked her, but she didn't stop and turn, replying as she was leaving.
"None of your business." As she left, leaving the two boys alone by themselves, the changeling whistled.
"Girl has so many secrets."
"Yeah, sort of guarantees a..." Cyborg led before both whispered to each other,
"Stakeout." Both boys went to Jinx's room to knock on the door, which she opened after a few seconds.
"Already? I just started reading. What do you guys want?"
"Since you're a former villainess, we were wondering if you could help us stakeout Raven to learn some of her dirty secrets." Cyborg requested, but the pink haired girl shook her head.
"No way. Remember when we first kicked you guys out way back when? The day after I was recruited, Raven gave me a fright that if I was caught in her room again, I'd regret it. And she was frightful enough to scare me of all people, so I'll give this a hard pass.
"But here's the thing, Jinx." Beast Boy spoke up. "You're no longer just some newbs' titan on tryouts, you're a real deal titan now. Rae Rae can be pretty scary, but once you earns her trust, the worst you can get is just moderate pain for a few days with no broken bones. You have my word dude." Humming in contemplation, Jinx did want to pay her fellow dark girl back for the scare. She just couldn't muster up the courage. But with some reassurance that things won't be so bad and help, perhaps things could work out.
"Alright, I'll bite. But on one condition."
"What's that?" Cyborg inquired.
"You listen to me. I actually know stealth and espionage compared to you clown sirens. We move, and speak, when I say it's okay. Okay?" Both nodded. "Good. Now let's get to work.
It was a clear night sky, and the two titans on the date, Starfire and Robin, were on a smooth flat area of grass outside the city, where the stars could shine even brighter. The air was getting a bit chilly since it was becoming autumn, but it was still comfortable enough. The wind blew against them gently, blowing their hair and anything that wasn't skintight to flap in the wind. The smell of nature combined with the salty smell of the Pacific Ocean created a pleasant combination of the nose. The two laid down on their backs on soft luscious grass. Robin looked over at his girlfriend. Thanks to the moon she shined with a unique shade of orange only said moon could provide. Her red hair reaching down to her feet seemed to hug around her body, almost like it was trying to cocoon her. He imagined she would look like a beautiful butterfly version of herself, looking the same except for gorgeous butterfly wings and thin antennae.
"I frequently look up to the stars at night, but I always find something new to see, since it is different than from nights on Tamaran."
"I certainly didn't recognize where anything was when we were there." The Boy Wonder remembered back.
"Indeed. The same for me when I spent the first few nights here, but there were still some stars I could spot on sight after some looking."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. In your names of the stars..." She pointed to various stars. "...I easily found Sirius, since it's so bright. But did you know it is actually a double star system?"
"Really?" Of all the things that Batman has taught Robin, astronomy wasn't that high on the priority list. He still knew more than the average person, but he was likely just above average at best, and anything else after that was all Starfire, and they don't talk about space all that much.
"Yes. And there is Arcturus. I find it funny the constellation is called the bootes constellation. Like the boot. From what I hear, this star is not that well known. It is what you call under the rated, yes?"
"Yeah. So many things are forgotten or maybe even not brought to people's attention in general because something else is more popular."
"That is the unfortunate. Everything should have the chance to be as great as the most popular ones." Starfire bemoaned. "Like Vega there. I also like the constellation name. Lyra the Harp. Was there actually a harp player named Lyra?"
"Not a woman per say, but the harp, or lyre is said to be the first ever made in Greek mythology. I don't know all the details though." Like with astronomy, Greek mythology wasn't something he was more than above average at.
"I see. A lot of your constellations sure have ties to your mythologies. Why is one of them called Cancer? Why would such a terrible disease get its own constellation?"
"It's not the disease, but rather a huge crab that the demi-god, Hercules, kicked away. I think he was fighting the hydra at the time or something."
"Hercules? Who is he and what is this hydra?"
"Hercules is one of the most greatest demi-gods of his time. Half god, half man. He wasn't immortal, but he was strong. Stronger than any mortal man that lived at the time. His strength was so great, he strangled a lion that had a hide that couldn't be pierced with weapons and fought the hydra, which is a giant lizard thing where if you cut off one head, two more grow back."
"Wow. Interesting." The warrior princess sounded really impressed. "How did he defeat such an adaptable foe?"
"By burning the stumps, then he crushed the last head with a boulder."
"How clever. Like my boyfriend Robin here."
"Aw Star." The two then got close to snuggle together. "I love you."
"I love you too." They then kissed while hugging each other close. As Starfire looked into his eyes, she noticed a glint. "Hmm?"
"What is it Star?" He asked. She turned her head to see something that seemed unnaturally shiny in the bushes. Floating up, she went over to it and picked up an abnormally large crystal.
"What is a crystal like this doing here?" The Tamaranean asked. Robin hummed in contemplation as he used a device to scan it, and then looked through his communicator before gasping.
"This is one of the crystals that was stolen in a series of gem thefts. I've been trying to catch the thief but they're good, able to get away and leave no clues for me to find.
"So does this mean our date is cancelled?" Starfire asked with a disappointed face. Robin instantly replied,
"Oh uhhhhhnnnnno, no, it doesn't need to. I mean, try as I might I haven't been able to find any transactions that anyone got crystals like these illegally or suspiciously, and I have no idea why a crystal like this would be in a bush this far out of the city. So let's just keep this date going." His girlfriend smiled.
"I would most enjoy that."
As Raven was writing in a book, until the headache she was feeling grew stronger as she held her head. The sorceress closed the book and left her room to get some Tylenol. Outside in the hall, the three titans exited the respective rooms of the hall, and waited for a few seconds.
"Alright, let's go." Jinx signaled. They slipped in before the door automatically closed. "Alright, look around, but don't touch anything that looks inherently dangerous or excessively spooky. We're just looking for a diary or whatever, then Cyborg can copy it into his memory, and we can get out." As they looked around the room, Beast Boy spotted something quickly.
"Hey, it's a book with a lock on it. I think it's the diary."
"Oh man, do you know what would be the greatest thing to find, bro?" Cyborg giggled.
"What?"
"All her deepest darkest secrets about you."
"No doubt. Check it. Messing with his hair so that it resembled her cloak, and dropping his ears, Beast Boy spoke just like Raven. "Dear Diary. Beast Boy is so handsome. I want to kiss his pretty face." He then made a couple of smooching sounds before the boys giggled.
"Hey, stop goofing around and just open it." Jinx ordered them impatiently.
"Fine." The changeling replied with an eyeroll before opening the book, but it was in Azarathian text. "Huh, the words are moving-Ack!" The words then started to force themselves into Beast Boy's mouth, forcing him to close the book and his mouth. A few tense seconds passed before he started regurgitating wasps.
"You're holding it upside down, dummy!" Cyborg scolded him while trying to read the book the other way, only to be blasted with light. "Augh! Too much information! Too much information!" Jinx proceeded to slap the book out of his hands and used her powers to mess with the ventilation, sucking up all the wasps in the room.
"Ugh, you idiots!" She was going to say they should abort the mission, she could hear Raven returning. "Quick, under the bed!" Ushering them under the bed while she placed the book back before getting in with them, Beast Boy gave one last burp which produced another wasp, which the green teen was sure would give them away, until Jinx caught the wasp and squished it in between her fingers, wiping the bug corpse off onto the floor. The door opened up with Raven feeling better, going back to her book, and writing in it again.
Robin and Starfire were now at a Greek restaurant, given that they were talking about Greek mythology earlier, and were loving the décor of Soulavor, a combination of soul and flavor.
"This eating establishment looks quite historic." Starfire acknowledged.
"Not really. The style of food and eatery appearance is and looks old, but this place is less than a year old. The whole chain is in fact." Robin shrugged.
"Oh." That interested her. A waiter came over.
"What would you like for dinner this evening?"
"I'll have the Snake River Farms Pork Shoulder with Greek Fries and Sparkling Water." The Boy Wonder replied.
"And I will have the Mary's Lamb Farm Leg along with the Avgolemono Soup and cherry soda." The alien princess said.
"Excellent choices."
"Wait, the Baklava Crumbles & Honey Syrup, especially the baklava part, is that dessert in that song-"
"You never had a buddy like me' in 'A Lad In Istanbul'? Yes, it is. In fact, after the customer is done we like to ask them 'how about a little more baklava?'." He chuckled.
"So what is baklava anyway? I am the curious now." Starfire asked.
"It is a pastry created in the time of the Ottoman empire made of filo bread filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with either syrup or honey. It's incredibly popular in not just Greece or the Ottoman Empire, but pretty much the entirety of the Mediterranean and Middle East. Perhaps even the left half of Asia."
"Well then, we'd certainly like that, would we?" Robin asked his girlfriend taking her hand. She giggled.
"Yes, it sounds the wonderful."
"I'll be back with your orders." He bowed and then went away.
A good waiting and amazing dinner later.
"Oh my goodness that was so good." Robin sighed, having eaten some really good shish-ka-bob.
"Mine was as well. The soup was very tasty and the baklava was divine." Starfire hummed in satisfaction. It was then she noticed something. The ceiling had chandeliers to illuminate the place, but one was missing entirely, throwing off the feng shui.
"Here is your bill." The waiter came with a piece of paper.
"Excuse me, but why is there a missing spot there?"
"Oh, we along with a few other places have been hit by a line of chandelier thefts. The only clue that we have is that the cameras are blinded by light." That set something off in the the Boy Wonder's detective mind.
"Wait, light? Of course, I've figured this all wrong! I was trying to look for black market deals, but this has Dr. Light written all over it. Here's the money. Let's go Star!" Slamming a 100 bill down, he and his date went out.
"Alright, thanks to the use of triangulation of all the thefts of Jump Cities' chandeliers, I've pinpointed the most likely hideout of Dr. Light." The two titans have found a warehouse that seemed to have been abandoned, but light is coming from inside.
"And the seemingly random trail of these other crystals." Starfire held up three more crystals. "Shall we apprehend the Dr. Light now?"
"No. He may have a trap, like a crystal prison that'll be too tough for me to break out or redirect your starbolts." Robin started rooting through his belt and took a capsule out. "No, what we need to a disguise. Open it." Complying, once the alien girl opened it, a disguise came out and almost magically covered her up, wearing a mask of an old man, men sized janitor clothes along with wrapping to flatten her curves, and some classic old man shoes.
"Robin, why did you carry this and how did this work so efficiently?"
"The protégé of Batman is always prepared and doesn't reveal secrets." In all honesty, even he didn't know on the second part. It just worked. "Now, you're going to go in there and pretend to be the janitor on his night shift. Here is a com disguised as a hearing aid." The Boy Wonder fixed the device into her ear." I'll be hidden as both surveilance and back up."
"Okay."
"Try to sound like an old man please." He requested.
"Okay." She sounded much deeper as she went to one of the doors and entered. Sneaking through the warehouse, she was able to find the janitors closet, and acquired a mop and bucket to complete the look. Exiting the closest, she was caught off guard and gasped seeing Dr. Light, eyeing her suspiciously.
"And who are you supposed to be, janitor?" He asked threateningly.
"I am the..." She looked down at her disguise to see a nametag. "...the Jeff! I am just doing my nightly job in the shift of the grave."
"You sound weird. Where are you from?"
"Uh...I uh...I am the foreign exchange janitor from..."
"Norway." Robin whispered into her ear piece.
"I am from Norway, yes! The great land of the Norse, yes. In fact, my last name is..."
"Ericson."
"Ericson. Jeff Ericson. Hinga Dinga Dargen." She spouted, running out of ways to lie. Dr. Light looked into her eyes, which thankfully were covering the green sclera of her natural eyes. Shrugging, he remarked,
"Hmm, seems legit. Come in, come in." Slinging an arm over 'Jeff's' shoulders, he showed her around. Let me show you what I have been doing. I have spent weeks working on a hobby of mine. Making chandeliers of one I've stolen across the city." Starfire looked up to see an assortment of custom made chandeliers. "One can't be evil all the time."
"Is that the so?" She asked, incredulous of the whole thing.
"Indeed. I call this one 'The pain of defeat'. And here we have 'foiled again'. This is one of my personal favorites. 'I'll get you next time'."
"You seem to have the overall theme of defeat with all these." She commented.
"Yes. It's all because of those blasted Teen Titans, thwarting my plans whenever I try to do anything. Which I've also expressed into chandeliers." Indeed, he made one corresponding each five of the titans by both color pallet and style, with a pink and black one currently under construction. "They recently added a sixth member some time ago and while she and I haven't fought hero to villain yet, she has crossed me before while she was still evil. These I call 'Titans'.
"How the interesting. This is all the fascinating, but I have the work to do."
"Yes yes, of course. A villain can't work in a place of filth after all." Dr. Light agreed. Letting her go, Starfire was now free to roam. For some time she looked around but didn't find anything, but once she reached a cloaked white board, she uncovered it, revealing a plan to destroy the city with some of his chandelier crystals. A hand was placed on her shoulder. "Hey, what are you-?" He was knocked back with a grunt of pain as Starfire instinctively spun and gave a left hook into Dr. Light's jaw, sending him back into a support beam. "Ow! You've got quite the left hook for an old man." It was then that a birdarang with metal string wrapped around him and the beam and trapped him to it. "What the?!" A disk was dropped at his feet, which burst with electricity, dealing the villain pain as he shouted along with short circuiting his suit. Robin dropped down from the ceiling, revealing himself. "Robin?!" He cried out, only for Starfire to tear her mask off. "And Starfire too?! You two will pay for this!"
"Yeah yeah, save it for another chandelier you can make in prison." The Titan leader brushed off. "Star, that was great! We got to have our date, and caught a villain in the same night!"
"Thank you Robin. Does that mean our date is finished then?"
"Nah, let's go have some more fun. The night is still young. After you." Robin opened the door while he was calling the police. Starfire giggled as she left followed by her boyfriend.
Raven was trying to keep writing, but a nagging pain in her head was overpowering the medicine and kept bugging her.
"That's it." She growled. The half-demon girl went to her mirror and looked into it, being transported into the Nevermore. Peeking out from under the bed, Jinx whispered,
"It's time to move." Only to get no reply. "Guys?" She checked to see that the boys fell asleep. Groaning, she bonked them on their heads. "Guys!" They woke up from staking out for so long. "It's time to move." Getting from underneath the bed, they looked around. "So diaries are out. What else could there be?" As they pondered, Beast Boy looked at the mirror.
"Dudes, we could go in the mirror. Talk to her emoticlones."
"Is it safe?" The metahuman asked skeptically, but Cyborg placed a hand on her shoulder with a smile.
"Oh yeah! I mean, it's disorienting the first time, but you get used to it."
"If you say so." Jinx complied, if a bit apprehensive. Beast Boy grabbed the mirror and looked into it. They were all sucked in as a result. Cyborg and Beast Boy landed well enough on the stone walk ways, but for once, Jinx landed on her backside.
"Ow! Ugh, you guys were right."
"Jinx, you okay?" Cyborg asked in a concerned manner as he helped her up.
"I'll be...whoa." She gazed into what seemed like the infinite void of space which was Raven's mind. "This is her world?"
"Depends which Raven you're with. If you're with Happy, it's like that pony or Pegasus show that's popular. If you're with Timid, then it's a maze."
"Ring a bell?" A voice called out. Looking up, they saw Happy doing the same what's up trick from their first encounter. This time, the two male titans were prepared as they landed on their feet, though the same couldn't be said for Jinx as she fell on her head with a crash.
"Ow! Come on!" This time, the irritated former villainess picked herself up.
"Happy, we're glad to see you!" Beast Boy remarked as he hugged her, which she returned. "Say, do you know any secrets that we could use against Raven? You know, for pranks and such." The changeling asked. Happy giggled.
"Not me, but I know someone." Whistling into her fingers, Knowledge walked out from behind her.
"Yes?"
"They would like to know if there's any secrets they could know about Raven for pranks." Happy explained.
"Ah yes. Here." The yellow clad Raven handed Beast Boy a paper list. "I do warn you though, if you go through with any of these, prepare for fates worse than death."
"I'm sures we can handle it. Thanks girls." Beast Boy said as he accepted the paper and gave a kiss to both Happy and Knowledge. Happy screamed and jumped for joy while hugging him again while Knowledge remained stoic, but blushed. The two emoticlones then felt something.
"Looks like you guys need to go. Raven will be leaving soon." Knowledge told them as she opened a portal leaving this plane.
"I love you Beast Boy."
"I loves you too, mama. " Beast Boy returned as they went through the portal. Exiting the mirror, they made it just as Raven came out, having dealt with Pride and now feels calm, tranquil and none the wiser about what happened. As the three titans ran to Cyborg's room, the three waited a moment before laughing and high fiving each other.
"Yeah, well done team!" Jinx proclaimed.
"That's how we roll!" Beast Boy responded.
"So let's see what juicy secrets we got." Cyborg said as they looked at the paper. They then learned that Raven get carsick easily, though this is bypassed by preemptive magic before riding, has a guilty pleasure of liking ponies and pegasi, wears contact lenses which got a huge chuckle from Jinx, has a love for dancing, which the two male titans already knew, likes pranks even though she claims to be above them and loves old people. Beast Boy and Cyborg laughed their butts off about the prank part. Her hates are dentistry, horror movies despite her goth nature, girly things which Jinx could agree with, her hood being removed without permission, gaseous emissions, too much focus on cars unless it's helping Cyborg on the T-Car, her birthday although she plans on changing that, tickles and package peanuts.
"This is good. Really good." Jinx chuckled evilly while rubbing her hands togehter.
"I'll memorize this, and then pull some pranks off with this stuff periodically so that she isn't suspicious." Cyborg suggested.
"Cool." Jinx yawned. "Well, I'm heading to bed. It's been fun. Night." She and Beast Boy left Cyborg's room, heading to bed, not meeting Robin and Starfire until morning.
A/N: This was interesting to write. I used a San Francisco restaurant called Souvla, and I used their menu to determine what they should eat. I thought those were nice details. Tell me what you think of this chapter everybody. Thanks.