The internal mechanisms whirred, and the slabs of metal parted. As the door to the tower opened, Nightwing walked in, followed by Beast Boy and Raven. The hallway was dimly lit. The bottom floor had minimal lighting at the moment. Nightwing hit the switch, turning the lights up. Without saying anything, they headed for the stairs. They had let Cyborg know they were coming back, so he was expecting them.
In a minute, they made it back up to the top floor. All three of them walked down the familiar hallway. This time, they were not heading to the ops room. Instead, they were heading towards Cyborg's room. That was where he was working on the red thing Nightwing had found. They walked up to his door, which was closed. Beast Boy stepped forward and knocked.
"Hey Cyborg, we're back." Beast Boy said. Some clicking noises could be heard from within. Cyborg was most likely typing something.
"Just a sec." Cyborg said from inside. The others waited a moment, and then the door opened. Cyborg stood to the side to let them in. The human side of his face was lit by the hall light, while his robotic side was somewhat shadowed from within his room.
"So, what have you guys been up to, get into a fight?" he said with a slight playfulness.
"Everything went fine, more or less." Nightwing said. He entered Cyborg's room.
"More or less?" Cyborg said.
"I think we pissed off the cops again." Beast Boy said as he walked past Cyborg.
"For real? How's that?" Cyborg said.
"We got the video, that's all that matters." Nightwing said looking back at them. They were all in the room now. The room was a little darker than most of the other rooms. Much of Cyborg's old equipment was still there, although he had added a few upgrades. The red shard was currently housed inside of a see-through case on one side of the room, with scanning equipment on the sides. A light shone down on it from above, causing the red light to reflect on anyone who got close to it. Raven walked up to the case to see inside, the red light coloring her pale skin.
"Did you find out anything?" she asked. Cyborg looked at the shard, and then looked at a monitor nearby. He tilted his head slightly.
"Well, yeah." He said. "At least I think so."
"What is it?" Nightwing said. Cyborg sighed, and walked over to the shard. He stared at it for a moment. "I've done some tests on it. At first, it didn't seem like anything special. It's made from some strong material, high grade, but nothing out of this world." Cyborg folded his arms while continuing to look at it.
"I'm assuming there's more." Nightwing said. Cyborg nodded.
"I did some deeper tests, and I found something. Only trace amounts, but it's there."
"Trace amounts of what?" Nightwing said. Cyborg turned to Nightwing.
"Zynothium." He said flatly. For a moment, they all just stood there. They slowly exchanged glances.
"Zynothium?" Beast Boy said. "That's that stuff Red X used for his suit, right?"
"Yes, it is." Nightwing said in a low voice. He narrowed his eyes.
"It might have been what was powering the robot." Cyborg said. "We're lucky nothing happened when Aqualad wrecked it. It explains the red color, anyway."
"Do you think it could actually be him?" Beast Boy said as he ran his hand over his head. "Red X, I mean."
"Red X isn't the only one who used Zynothium." Raven said.
"Look, I know Robin… Nightwing was the original Red X, but obviously he didn't do this."
Raven narrowed her eyes. "I meant Professor Chang."
"Oh yeah, Chang." Beast Boy said. "But still… You've got to admit, Red X would make a lot of sense. I mean, a guy dressed in all black, with ninja moves and fancy weapons."
"Red X wasn't a murderer." Raven said. She stepped away from the shard, and stood by Nightwing.
"She's right." Nightwing said. "This doesn't fit his MO."
"Yeah well, it's been years since we've seen him." Beast Boy said. "People change."
"Maybe, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions." Nightwing said. "Especially since there are at least two of these killers."
"There are?" Cyborg said. He raised his one eyebrow. "I thought there was only one."
"From what we saw of the security footage, there were two of them." Nightwing said. "Speaking of which…" He reached into a compartment on his wrist and pulled out the flash drive. "I think its time we got a closer look at this footage. Hopefully it will give us a better idea of who we're dealing with."
Shortly after that, the titans were gathered in the ops room to watch the footage. They could have watched it in Cyborg's room, but the ops room had a bigger screen, which would make it easier to make out details in the low-quality video. It took them a few minutes to set up the screen to show the footage on the flash drive. Having done that, they all gathered to watch. They all stood, except for Beast Boy who sat on the edge of a table. The group gazed up at the screen intently as the video began to play.
A grainy, black and white image appeared on the big screen. The alley at night. There was no sound. That is to say, the recording was purely video, no audio. Garbage cans were along the walls. Litter was strewn about the ground. There were a few lights in the alley, but they weren't that bright. Shadows obscured certain areas, providing an incomplete picture. Not that there was much to see at the moment. For a few minutes, there was no one to see. After a couple minutes Beast Boy got impatient and asked if they could skip ahead. The others overruled this idea, in case they might miss something. They remained silent and watched.
Finally, something appeared. The robot appeared on the screen. "There it is." Cyborg said.
"Back up and pause." Nightwing said. Cyborg did so. He reversed the video, freezing it on the robot. They examined its small form as best they could. It appeared to have an "eye", which was apparently where the red part came from. It didn't appear to have any weapons on it. They continued the video. A moment later, Aqualad ran down the alley.
"Go back again." Nightwing said.
"We already know its Aqualad." Cyborg said.
"No, I think I saw something else. Just back up and pause." Cyborg did so. He paused on Aqualad as he was in frame. There was nothing else to comment on. At Nightwing's request, Cyborg slowly moved the footage forward frame by frame. This took a minute, but then something happened.
"I see it." Raven said.
"Where?" Beast Boy said.
"Check the corner." Nightwing said. In the corner of the frame, there were some shadows, but peaking out from the shadow they saw a hand and a foot. Or rather, a glove and boot.
"Go forward, but at half speed." Nightwing said. The video resumed at the reduced rate. They saw the hand disappear. The foot could still be seen going forward, following Aqualad. No other person could be seen.
"I don't see the second one." Cyborg said.
"Maybe they're already there." Beast Boy said.
"Aqualad was found dead in the sewer." Raven said. "Maybe he was waiting for Aqualad down there."
"If that's true, then this was definitely a setup." Nightwing said. "Why lure Aqualad specifically?"
"I mean, it brought us here, didn't it?" Beast Boy said.
"We already knew someone was after us." Raven said. "But if they set all this up to lure Aqualad, which would lure us, then…"
"Someone must have been planning this for a while." Cyborg said. They all reflected on that as the video continued, now at normal speed. Another minute passed, and then they saw the two figures leaving. Nightwing didn't have to tell Cyborg to pause this time. Cyborg slowly passed the frames until they could get the clearest shot of the two. It still wasn't great, but at least they could make out some of the details.
The killers were wearing similar clothes. All black, with masks and goggles or glasses. They walked close to each other, and it was obvious that one was taller than the other. And more muscular too. Nightwing pointed at the bigger one. "I think that's blood on him."
"How can you tell without color?" Beast Boy said.
"No, I see it." Cyborg said. "Definitely some stains on the clothes."
"I think I see some splatter on his goggles." Raven said.
"Then he was probably the one that killed Aqualad." Nightwing said.
"The killing blow, at least." Raven said. "If they were both there, then the other one probably softened Aqualad up first."
"Maybe we should go further ahead." Nightwing said. As Cyborg was about to advance the footage, Beast Boy stood up.
"Wait." He said. He pointed at the screen, and the others looked at him.
"You see something?" Cyborg said.
Beast Boy nodded. "Yeah." He stepped a little closer, and squinted. He turned back to the others, and with a stony expression, he said, "I see boobs." For a long moment, no one said anything. This was followed by Raven simply saying, "What."
"Beast Boy, this isn't the time for jokes." Cyborg said.
"I'm serious." Beast Boy said. He pointed at the screen. "Look at the smaller one. The chest. You see it, right?" They all hesitated, but then looked.
"…I think he's right." Nightwing said. Looking more closely, the smaller figure had a protruding chest. Not so big it was immediately obvious, but once it was pointed out, the smaller person definitely appeared to have a bosom. Both figures wore somewhat form fitting clothes, albeit with some body armor and gear. The taller figure had a clearly masculine form with muscles. The smaller one had thinner limbs and, as pointed out, a feminine chest.
"A man and a woman." Nightwing said. "Who are they?" He rubbed his chin with his fingers.
"Think the guy might be Red X?" Beast Boy said.
"I remember X being smaller than that." Raven said.
"That was years ago." Beast Boy said. "He could have gotten bigger. Like Nightwing."
"It's a possibility." Nightwing said.
"Hey, everyone?" Cyborg said. He raised his hand. "While we're speculating on who this guy is, don't you think there's someone we haven't considered? An elephant in the room? I mean, we've talked about Mumbo, and Control Freak, and now Red X. But none of those guys were killers from what I remember. But there is one guy we know who would definitely kill." Cyborg let that hang. The others stood there a moment. Nightwing folded his arms and lowered his head.
"Of course I've considered that it might be Slade. I would never forget him. But this whole thing… It doesn't really feel like one of his plans. He couldn't resist saying something, mocking us. And I don't think he would go through so much trouble to hide his identity. If it were him, he'd want us to know it."
"Maybe." Cyborg said. "Or maybe the old dog learned some new tricks."
"Besides all that…" Nightwing said. "The guy in that video doesn't look like Slade."
"Uh, Nightwing…" Raven said.
"I know, but look at his physique." Nightwing said. He pointed to the man. "I remember Slade's build and physique. This guy is different. He's muscular sure, but leaner than Slade. And his gait is different too."
"My money's still on Red X." Beast Boy shrugged. He sat down again. "What about the chick? Who's she?"
"Good question." Nightwing said.
"I doubt its anyone we know." Cyborg said. He yawned as he said this. This was followed by Beast Boy yawning. Nightwing looked around at them.
"Maybe we should get some sleep, and talk about this more in the morning."
"It is getting late." Raven said. "And it might help to come back to this with fresh eyes tomorrow."
"Okay, I guess we're done for tonight." Nightwing said. "We'll meet back here in the morning to talk about this."
"Sounds good to me." Beast Boy said, yawning midsentence.
Nightwing awoke to a noise from outside. He opened his eyes, seeing that his room was still dark. He turned on the light, and sat up. He then checked the time. Still dark out. And yet, he could see a light shining in from the corners of his window shade. He stood up. He heard the noise more clearly, a chopping sound in the air. He realized it must be a helicopter. He decided not to stand directly in front of the window, but instead stood to the side and gently lifted part of the shade. He saw a helicopter flying low in the air, hovering around the tower. It had a search light on. He narrowed his eyes, and focused his hearing.
He could only hear the one copter. But he did hear something else. Someone's voice, on a megaphone, just like earlier. He sighed. He walked to his door and went out into the hallway. As he did, he saw Raven and Cyborg already there.
"Alright, what's going on now?" Cyborg said. A second later, Beast Boy's door opened. Beast Boy looked around.
"What's going on now?" he said.
"That's what I just said." Cyborg said.
"It sounds like the cops followed us back here." Raven said.
"I was hoping they wouldn't know we were there." Nightwing said bitterly.
"This is just our luck." Beast Boy said. He rubbed his eyes and stepped out into the hall. They could hear shouting from outside. Nightwing glanced at Raven. Raven gave a slight nod. She recognized the voice too.
"We don't need this right now." Nightwing said.
"Do we ever?" Raven said.
"No. But its better if we just get this over with. I'm going outside."
"You think that's a good idea?" Cyborg said.
"The cops are at our tower." Nightwing said. "What do you suggest?" Cyborg said nothing. Without another word, Nightwing headed for the stairs, and began descending them to meet the police outside. Without being asked to, the rest of the team followed him down. The next thing, they were at the door.
When Nightwing opened the door, he half expected a small army of cops. That wasn't exactly what he saw. There were several cops there, as well as the chopper above. But their number was in the single digits. There were a few cop cars nearby. But at the front of the cops was the captain they had met at the docks before. The one who had explicitly told them to stay out of everything, and leave. He was still wearing his mask and helmet, concealing his face. A few of the cops had their hands on their weapons, but the captain just stood there, waiting for the titans. He still had the megaphone in his hand.
Nightwing motioned to the others to stay back, and approached the captain. After taking a few steps, a few of the cops began drawing weapons, which in turn caused the other titans to ready themselves for a fight. Nightwing held up his hands.
"Everyone calm down." He said. "I'm not here to fight anyone. I just want to know why you're at our tower at four in the morning." He said this last part to the captain. The captain held his megaphone out to the side, and another cop came and took it. The captain then advanced a few steps closer, now just a few feet from Nightwing. He raised his hand and pointed a finger at Nightwing.
"You were at the lab earlier." He said. "Don't deny it."
"We've stopped by a bunch of places these past few days." Nightwing said.
"Don't I know it." The captain said. "And why is that?"
"Just taking a look around our old city. Seeing the sights."
"Bullshit." The captain replied. Nightwing frowned, unimpressed with the hardboiled cop routine. But he said nothing. He watched the captain pull out a piece of paper, and start reading from it.
"You engaged in a number of fights, with several eyewitnesses." The captain said. "Clubs and bars. There was a fight near the hospital recently, with some damaged property. And several of my men were attacked at the docks recently."
"That's unfortunate." Nightwing said. The captain stepped even closer.
"It was you, wasn't it?"
Nightwing didn't respond.
"Your silence says a lot. Why shouldn't I just arrest you right now?"
"Can you prove anything?" Nightwing said.
"You're a vigilante."
"There are a lot of vigilantes, many operating openly."
"Yeah, its like jaywalking now." Beast Boy said. The captain ignored him.
"You can't just go around doing whatever you want." He said.
"We're only here to solve our friend's murder." Nightwing said. "After that, we'll be gone."
"Not if I lock you up." The captain said.
"If you want to do that, then you're going to have to use force." Nightwing said this calmly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg all stepped forward, standing just behind Nightwing. This caused a mixed reaction among the other cops. A few tensed, and clearly wanted to draw weapons. But a few others took a few steps back. One put a foot inside the car door, as if he wanted to drive away. For a long moment, the captain stood there, face to face with Nightwing.
"Do you really want to fight the police?" he said.
"I'd rather not." Nightwing said. "But we can't walk away from this."
The captain glanced back at his men, and then turned back to Nightwing. In a lower voice, the captain said, "You don't know what you're dealing with."
Without hesitation, Nightwing said, "We're dealing with crime. We just disagree on the methods." The captain looked at Nightwing, and then looked at the other titans. The captain grumbled under his helmet. He gradually took a few steps back. Nightwing tensed, ready to move. The captain raised a hand.
"Alright, let's go." The captain said. "We're leaving." The officers exchanged some glances, but did as they were told. The captain turned and started walking to a car. But he stopped for a moment and turned.
"You'll regret not listening to me." He said. Then he walked back to his car and got in. The police all drove off. The remaining heroes stood there in the dark.
"That was looking like a fight for a minute." Cyborg said. "Guess that guy's all talk."
"Maybe…" Nightwing said.
"Looks like he regretted messing with us." Beast Boy said, nodding at Cyborg.
"We should get back inside." Nightwing said. "We have a lot we need to talk about." They all went back in. The scene at Titan Tower returned to normal, no sign of the conflict from a minute ago. The city went about its business as the titans went back to theirs.
End Notes: There are a couple of things I want to say. First of all, thank you to everyone who has commented on this fic. I know that there are a few comments I didn't reply to. In some cases, because I didn't initially see them, and only noticed it much later. Other times it was because I just didn't have anything specific to say, so just said nothing. But even if I don't reply to every single comment, I do appreciate them all.
Secondly, the title of this story, Return of the Titans. As of this writing, I am considering changing that title. I was never crazy about that title. I always thought it sounded fairly generic. I mainly chose it because I couldn't think of anything better. Or rather, I couldn't think of anything better that wouldn't be a spoiler for the story.
Besides that, it has very recently come to my attention that there is another fic with the same title. I haven't read it, but the other fic apparently came a little before mine did. I actually did search to see if the title was taken, but somehow missed it. At any rate, I wanted to ask what the readers of this fic think. Should I change the title, or keep it the same? And if I do change it, then what should the new title be? If anyone has a suggestion, you can post it.