A dark, slightly dank place. Spacious, yet somehow claustrophobic. In the distance, noises could be heard. Some mundane, like the sounds of machinery grinding along. Other sounds were more ominous, more wretched. The sounds of wailing, and suffering. Garbled, and distant. But haunting if you focused on them too long. But those who were used to those noises were not so bothered by them. They were simply a part of things.

Inside this place was a room, more like a chamber. This area was quieter. Two figures stood in the room, as if at attention. Bronze Ravager, and Silver Ravager. They were both worse for wear after the fight. They had barely had time to clean themselves off, and had not finished dressing their wounds when they were called to this place. They had waited for some time. Finally, Slade stepped out of the shadows to greet them. The shadows cast over him gave him an even more ominous look than usual. Behind him was a large door, leading somewhere else.

"Hello, children." Slade said in the same tone he speaks to everyone else, without warmth.

"Slade." Both Ravagers said in unison.

"I would say it's good to see you back." Slade said. "Except, you failed. And failure is never good."

"That wasn't our fault though." Silver Ravager said. Slade shifted his eye towards him.

"That sounds like an excuse." Slade said.

Silver Ravager stiffened. "There was only supposed to be a couple Titans there, not the whole team. Then that bee bitch and alien whore showed up."

"Bumblebee and Starfire, you mean." Slade said. "Juvenile name calling is beneath you. Or at least, it should be." Slade glared at Silver as he struggled to come up with something to say.

"We are responsible." Bronze Ravager said. "We were caught off guard. But that's no excuse. We should expect the unexpected. But we'll do better next time."

Slade considered her for a moment as the other Ravager said nothing. "That's good. Even so, I would punish you for your failure if I were in charge. But we did agree that this was your mission. You wanted to show me you could do it without my help. So if you fail, then that's on you." Slade put his hands behind his back and started slowly pacing. "If you feel you aren't up to the task, I can take over. But if I do that, then you take direct orders from me, and you will get no credit for any of this." An edge crept into his voice at the end.

"No, we can do it!" Silver Ravager quickly said. "We just need another chance. Now we've fought them firsthand. We'll know what to do next time."

Slade glanced at them both. His expression, as usual, was unreadable with the mask. "Actions speak louder than words. Show me, don't tell me." Slade turned and started walking towards the door.

"Slade." Bronze Ravager said. Slade stopped. "We're hurt." She continued. "We might need a little time to recover."

Slade turned to look at them. He looked them up and down. "Yes, you do look quite awful. You can take a day to rest. You do heal quickly." He then turned and walked towards the door again. He started pressing into a nearby panel to open it. Before finishing the sequence, he turned to look at them once more.

"You made mistakes today. Hopefully you learn from those mistakes. I am man enough to admit that I've made some mistakes myself." Slade finished the sequence, opening the door. It slid open. It opened into a long corridor, more brightly lit. The harsh light shone into the room. From inside, the awful noises could be heard, now louder with the door open. Wailing voices. The sounds of madness and inhuman suffering, coming from somewhere in that corridor.

"I sincerely hope that neither of you end up being another mistake." Slade said. He then turned and walked into the white light of the entrance. The door closed behind him, again muffling the awful noises and leaving the room in relative darkness. For a long moment, the two Ravagers just stood there. Bronze Ravager made an effort not to look at the door. Hearing those noises so close sometimes set her on edge. That wasn't always the case. But as she's gotten older, it had come to bother her. She made an effort to slow her quickened heartbeat down.

Silver Ravager did look at the door, but scowled. He knew what was in there. He wasn't afraid of it, but he didn't like it. He turned to Bronze Ravager. They looked to each other.

"One day." She said.

"Lucky he gave us that." He said.

Bronze turned and started walking the other direction, that would lead her out of this place. "Well, I'm going to sleep for a while. Maybe when I wake up, I'll only hurt half as much."

Silver stood there and stretched. "Suit yourself. I'm going to get a few pizzas. Want me to get one for you too?"

Bronze paused, and grunted. "…Yeah, sure."

"You know it's good for you." He said.

"See you in eight hours. Or twelve." She said this as she climbed the stairs leading out.

Cyborg sat in his bed, examining his new limbs. He flexed his arms, making sure they moved right. He made a fist. He deployed his hand cannon. Everything seemed to be working right. He stood up and walked around, testing his legs. A day earlier it had been a little clumsy, getting around. But now it seemed smooth like it should.

There was a time when Cyborg tried to avoid thinking about his bionic parts as much as possible. He would still dress in human clothes, and hide his face. He was born human, and having so much of his humanity taken from him weighed on him. But he couldn't ignore it for very long. After all, most of his body was machine now, even if his mind and his soul were still human. Over time, he got used to it. This was who he was now. Cyborg. He raised his hand, and looked at it. "Bee." He said quietly.

Cyborg had spoken to her the previous day, after his talk with Raven. But she didn't say much. Mostly just sat there sulking. He didn't exactly blame her. She also looked weak and tired. That wasn't a surprise either. She had just been through a major physical trauma. Almost died, in fact. That takes time to recover from. She would get better again, physically. He wasn't so sure about her mental state though. Not that he thought this would destroy her or anything. But her arm…

He had intended to bring it up the last time they spoke, but couldn't. She probably wasn't ready to hear it. Maybe she still wasn't. But he had to at least mention it to her. She should know her options. It was going to be a hard conversation though, assuming she was willing to talk about it. But before he did that, he felt he should check up on the others, and maybe have something to eat. Maybe he was just stalling, but he felt he would handle this better if he had something to eat first.

Cyborg left his room and headed towards the ops room. His limbs moved comfortably as he walked, almost like there was never any damage. He had gotten pretty good at repairing himself. When he got to the room, he found that the only one there was Raven. She was standing alone at the open windows, looking out to the city in daylight. She had her hood up. He wondered where the others were. But it was still early. They'd probably be along any time. He walked over to Raven.

"Hey, Raven." He said, standing a few feet away. She didn't turn around.

"Good morning, Cyborg." She said in a dull deadpan. Cyborg just stood there a moment.

"Is everything ok?" he said.

"Everything's fine." Raven said in the same tone. He couldn't see her face with her hood up and her back to him. They just stood there for another long moment.

"You know Raven, you remember I said-" Cyborg started to say. But he stopped when the door opened and Starfire walked in. She saw Cyborg and Raven, and smiled. She waved to them both.

"Good morning, friends." She said warmly. She walked closer to them.

"Hey, Star." Cyborg said. Raven just quietly said, "Hi".

"How are you both feeling today?" said Starfire.

Cyborg shrugged. "I'm fine, I guess. All fixed up. But I was going to go see Bumblebee, see how she's doing."

Starfire nodded. "Yes, I was planning to do the same."

"Oh, you want to go together? I… was going to ask about a new arm for her."

Starfire's expression became thoughtful. "That sounds like a… what is the word? Tender subject. Do you not think it would be better to talk about this in private?"

"Hmm, maybe." He said. Starfire then turned to Raven.

"Raven, what do you think?" she said. At that moment, a door opened again. Nightwing walked in.

"Hi everyone." He said. "What's going on?"

"We were just talking about Bumblebee…" Cyborg said. Nightwing looked like he was going to say something, but Starfire walked over to him.

"Good morning to you, Nightwing." She said, her hands folded. Nightwing blinked.

"Oh. Good morning." He said. At this point Raven suddenly walked away, leaving the room.

"I would… like to talk further with you…" she said.

"Now's not a good time." He said.

"But why?" she said.

"There's a lot going on, and… I think I forgot something in my room." He said. He turned and left the way he came. Starfire stood there, looking after him. Cyborg, having watched all this, felt confused.

"What was that all about?" he said. She turned to look at him. Although, she lowered her eyes a little.

"It was… nothing." She too walked away. Cyborg was alone.

"Huh." He said to himself. He awkwardly walked over to the fridge and made a quick breakfast for himself. Smaller than usual. He didn't feel as hungry now. After he was finished, he left the ops room and headed towards the infirmary. But just as he stepped out into the hall, he ran into Beast Boy. Beast Boy had noticeably recovered from before. He still had some bandages on, and his movement was a little stiff. But he could walk around.

"Sup, Cyborg?" he said.

"Hey, Beast Boy. It's been kind of a weird morning."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"I mean, not with me. But the others… Something's off."

Beast Boy shrugged. "We've kind of been through hell lately. I don't blame everyone for acting a little weird."

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm just overthinking it. You seem better though."

"Yeah, we've been through worse. I mean, some of us have. You don't need to worry about me though."

"Good to hear it." Cyborg said. Just then, Raven walked through the door behind Cyborg. She walked by with her hood still covering her face. She bumped into Beast Boy. She looked up, startled. Beast Boy put his hands on her shoulders.

"You okay?" he asked. Raven looked at his hands, and then quickly backed away.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to…" Beast Boy said, but Raven quickly walked away down the hall. "…touch you." He finished. Beast Boy watched her leave, and then rubbed his head.

"Uhhh." Cyborg said.

"I… got to go." Beast Boy said.

"Is something wrong?" Cyborg said. Beast Boy insisted there wasn't without turning around.

"Okay, just… let me know if there's… something wrong." Cyborg put his hands on his hips. Now he's being weird too. It's like there's something going on, and I'm the only one that doesn't know about it. He decided that he wouldn't waste time thinking about it right that moment, since it probably wouldn't help anyway. Instead, he decided to focus on something where he knew exactly what the problem was, even if he wasn't sure that he had the solution. Time to go see Bee.

Cyborg stood at the doorway to the infirmary. Beast Boy's bed was now empty. There was only one occupant in the room, and Cyborg was the only visitor at the moment. Cyborg stepped into the room. "Bee, its me." He said. "I want to talk." She didn't respond. The curtain was covering her bed, so he couldn't see her from where he was. He wondered if she was sleeping. He walked over. He saw her awake and sitting up in bed, reading a science magazine. She flipped through the pages as he approached. She did not look up at him.

"Hi." he said.

"Hi." She said back in a low voice.

"So, how are you feeling today?"

She continued looking at the pages as he talked. "Oh, I'm fine. Good as new. Just a few bruises." She said. Her expression didn't change as she spoke, seemingly engrossed in whatever she was reading. But it seemed she didn't stay on a specific page for more than a few seconds. Cyborg pulled up a chair to sit down.

"We don't need to talk." She said.

"I think we should." Cyborg said.

"What's there to talk about?" she finally looked up at him. "I lost my arm. Sucks for me, but I'll just have to deal with it."

"You don't have to deal with it alone." He said.

"Yes I do. None of you know what its like to-" she paused, and looked at Cyborg. Cyborg held up one of his arms. Bumblebee turned her head.

"Okay, maybe you know what its like. But…"

"What?" he said.

Bumblebee shook her head. "I just don't want to be like…"

"Like me?" he said. She looked into his eyes for a moment, and her expression softened.

She sighed. "Look, I have nothing against you, or other people with… artificial parts. But… this wasn't supposed to happen to me." She tried folding her arms, but couldn't. So instead, she just settled for making a fist. She sat there for a minute in silence.

"You know, I never imagined myself being a superhero." Cyborg said eventually. "Back when I was… before the accident, I had different plans. Things I wanted to do. Great things, but human things. But instead, I ended up like this. I was not happy about it. But I found a way to take something bad and make something good out of it. I became a part of the Teen Titans. I've saved people. People I never could have saved before I became Cyborg. So yeah, the accident and the immediate aftermath of it was awful. But I can't say I regret it." Cyborg examined his own robotic hands as he spoke. Bumblebee listened to him, and lowered her eyes to the bed.

"I hear what you're saying. Your new body made you stronger and faster. That's awesome. But… I just don't want to feel like I have to do this. Like I don't have a choice. I still have most of my body. It's just one arm. Do I really need a new one?"

Cyborg blinked. "Well, I guess you don't have to if you don't want to. You could just… not get a new arm. But is that really what you want? You think that would be better than a replacement?"

"At least that way its still my own body." She said.

"But it would leave you at a disadvantage. You still want to be a hero and fight criminals, right?"

"Its my choice." She said through clenched teeth. Her eyes looked red. Cyborg was surprised that someone as science oriented and tech minded as her would have such a problem with this. But then, she had just been through a traumatic event. Everyone reacts to these things differently. Maybe she just needed time.

Cyborg nodded, and stood up. "Okay. Its your choice. But if you change your mind, I can make you a new limb. Just let me know." She said nothing. He started to walk away. "Just rest up. Its going to take some time for you to recover." He walked out without saying anything further.

Later that night, Nightwing called a team meeting in the ops room. He stood before the others, who were all seated. Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg. Bumblebee was not present. Nightwing knew that they hadn't had a chance to talk about things since they got back from their recent battle, but he felt this couldn't be put off any longer. They needed a plan of action. He looked over his friends.

"Alright, now that we're all here, there are some things we need to discuss. We need to talk about what's happening right now."

"Are we going to talk about how everyone is acting so weird around each other?" Cyborg said. Everyone looked at him. "What? It's true. We've got to work as a team, right? But it seems like we're not all on the same page right now."

There was an awkward silence for several seconds, before Nightwing cleared his throat. "We can talk about personal issues later. Right now, there's something more pressing." Nightwing knew that what Cyborg was saying was true. But was this really the time to be airing everything in front of each other? Besides, it might be better to handle these things with one on one talks, instead of as a group. Doing it that way could just make things worse.

"You wish to speak about the two teenagers calling themselves 'Ravagers'." Starfire said.

"Yes." Nightwing said.

"And Slade." Beast Boy added.

"Him too. Those two are working for him. We know that. But what else do we know about them? For instance, did anyone notice anything about the way they fought?"

"I didn't show up until after they ran off." Raven said.

"And I was unconscious for most of it. Sorry." Beast Boy said.

"They were very strong." Starfire said. "For humans, that is. And fast too."

"Inhumanly so." Nightwing said. "So, they have powers, or are enhanced in some way."

"I remember they were pretty smooth in the way they moved." Cyborg said. "They're young, but they felt like they had a lot of experience. Martial arts stuff. When they weren't using those weapons."

Nightwing nodded. "Their movements… Maybe its just my imagination, but some of their moves felt like Slade."

"Makes sense. We know they're working for him." Cyborg said.

"But I don't remember Slade ever using swords." Beast Boy said.

"Or guns." Raven added.

"I'm sure Slade knows a lot of different fighting techniques." Nightwing said. "But it's also possible they learned some of this stuff elsewhere. But when Terra…" Nightwing paused and looked at Beast Boy.

"Its okay, man." Beast Boy said.

"When Terra trained under Slade, she did have her powers. Her fighting technique… Slade taught her some moves, but her actual body movements were different from his. More clumsy, more telegraphed."

"Well, she was a teenager." Cyborg said.

"So are they." Nightwing said. "At least, I think so. The point is, their movements feel a lot closer to Slade. So, that leads me to believe they've been with him for a while. Maybe since the last time we saw him."

"You're saying that Slade has been like some kind of father figure to them?" Raven said.

Nightwing folded his arms. "I don't want to assume too much. We still need to learn more about them."

"Yeah like, who they are and where they came from." Beast Boy said.

"I'm less concerned with where they came from, and more concerned with where they are now. They must have some base they're operating out of. Slade always had hideouts in the past. If we could find it, we can go after them. Strike them before they can strike again."

"Good idea." Raven said. "How do we do that?"

"Well, that's what we're going to figure out." Nightwing said. Just as he said that, there was an alert from the computer system in the room. He had instructed Cyborg to set it to not only look out for attacks around the city, but also any news reports that might pertain to the Ravagers. Nightwing turned the television on. The news. Images flashed on screen. Nightwing quickly recognized the place being show on the screen.

"It's the lab." He said.

"What lab?" Starfire said. Cyborg started whispering to her. Nightwing watched the screen, and turned up the volume. A news reporter was talking about the lab they had visited before. It was now a crime scene. Several people were dead. A fire had also been started, but firefighters were able to put it out before the whole place burned down.

"You think its just a coincidence?" Cyborg said.

"That the lab burned a few days after we stop by?" Beast Boy said.

"Stranger things have happened." Cyborg said. The news report continued.

"A few people had been taken out of the building before the fire started." A reporter said. "The police have informed us that at least one of the victims appears to have been bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument. They are saying this entire incident appears to be foul play. Although, they do not have any suspects at the moment."

"Damn, dude." Beast Boy said. He sat there looking at the screen with the images of the charred building in the background. There was still smoke coming from it.

"Not a coincidence then." Cyborg said.