INNER DEMONS

by The Mighty One

Chapter 44 has been completed! Blackfire struggles to claim her prize outside The Jump City Observatory. The elemental wielders of ice and earth, are evenly matched at Titans Tower; Raven formulates a strategy with Avatar and The Squadron heroes, as the contest for Cyborg, reaches an unpleasant dilemma of its own. Meanwhile, Falcon and Elizabeth make their move.

7. Cryptic Threats

Disclaimer: By this means, I rightfully claim ownership to this fanfiction story and my original character within it, by my trademark signature T.M.O at the conclusion of every update. Any other characters that may appear in this work and are new, these are the rightful properties by their creators as well and cannot be reproduced or duplicated without their individual consent. I do not own anything within the DC Universe, from Warner Brothers, or on Cartoon Network. The only original character and the name that I created for him; that I accept half ownership on is Falcon from this telling. Scififanfreak222 owns the second half of him as well, for drawing him upon a collaboration of various new designs and sketches within the year of 2010; and cannot be knowingly placed into another literary document, writing community, comic book series, and or televised broadcast without either of our written or verbal consent in front of legal consultants. TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne, Scififanfreak222, xSaffire55x, Novus Ordo Seclorum, and RavenxIsxAxBlackxRose; each of these fellow writers have helped me to press onwards with this story, every-time I have come across writers block. Without their outstanding guidance, the updates would have taken me even longer to complete.

Chapter 7 is done! Robin informs Raven of his plan, Cyborg and Starfire uncover only more mystery behind their newest guest, as a long lost enemy, returns from the shadows. "Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is." -German Proverb-

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Chapter 7 - Cryptic Threats

Raven had found herself, in a rather bitter state of mind, as she sat in the lotus position upon her bed, reciting her mantra gently. Never before had such powerful feelings of desire, passion, and rage come out of the changeling before to her, and all at once. However, it typically occurred, when these two found themselves in tight spots.

She could still remember, the time after their first meeting, when she cradled him in her arms. It was during the fierce battle, as the green reptilian aliens were in search of Starfire across Jump City, in the middle of winter. That was well past, two and a half years ago; yet even then she felt a strong connection with him. She had no clear understanding, of the meaning behind it at the time, and now, there were still questions.

The Empath could recall the minor details, from around the first year that the team was formed. Things that did not seem all that important. It was after Beast Boy had entered her mirror of Nevermore, with Cyborg, that the changeling and the Empath were very detached from themselves, and they did not trust each other but still, she felt a growing bond with the shapeshifter, even then.

Things only became more complicated for the Empath, moments after the incident with Malchior, and how she felt so utterly alone and helpless, so weak and heartbroken. Only when all of the others had left her to sulk , when everyone else let her weep, that cold and dreary night, Beast Boy was there, standing just outside of her bedchambers door.

The words echoed in her mind, as she listened to her heartbeat growing ever faster, they never left her memory, forever imprinted as though the waves of time itself, would never cause the beautiful words, to wash away.

"You may think you're alone Raven ... but you're not."

This sentence clung to her, like a warm summer light, a beacon to her heart, and she loved him deeply because of this. Yet she had kept him away for a long time, she was fearful that he was only saying those things, just to cheer her up. For whatever the reason, that he went to see her that night, it did help her.

Even if she had refused to come to terms with it, there was still something there, between them. The more that she thought on it, the deeper that she felt he was not sent by the others; rather, he had gone to her on his own accord, in an effort to be closer. Her feelings towards him, the following weeks steadily became more and more complicated, as she thought that she was falling for Robin, only for Starfire to be inching more the closer mate, than she could have ever hoped to be.

It was during the first year that the team was together, during the time that Robin was taken prisoner and used, as Slade's unfortunate apprentice. She could sense that the Tamaranean Princess had wished for him back, more than Raven did. She could tell just by seeing these two, once they were reunited as though they were a perfect match, where the gray enchantress had no place to venture forth.

Thus, Raven did what she felt was her best and only option, she kept to herself, not trying to confuse their relationship, only for her to realize, her growing and secret affection with Beast Boy. It was no sooner after this too however, that Terra had entered into the fold.

Raven saw herself as a protective sister, rather than as a girlfriend. Still, she did wish that the green shape-shifter, could observe the other options around him, than just the blond haired bombshell. While she wanted to aid him, the Empath's concern for him grew, and it appeared at one point, as though they could become more than simply ... friends.

Raven had given him hints along the way, little vibes that she thought out of all of the others, Beast Boy's gifted animal instincts, would draw him closer to the enchantress. Instead, he ignored them, and so, she in turn cut away.

The Empath's feelings with the changeling, they had never totally faded into nothingness; rather they only went through yet another, difficult stage. Like the buds upon a mighty tree, slowly opening to the world for the first time, after a harsh winter season.

When she had finished a story, like the many trials and difficult paths in her own life, the Gothic heroine decided that it would be best to move on, and to open up another, where she focused her mind on other pressing issues at hand. Raven had left her gentle compassion for the changeling, on a somewhat distant but not impossible, out of reach grasp; where if the time came, and she felt that they were both ready, then perhaps they could make a fresh start.

All of her concerns, doubts and regrets were again challenged, like a coin of fate turning sides a second time. It was only after Terra had fled Beast Boy, when the geomancer had found her calling as Slade's newest pawn, it was then that Beast Boy became even more heartbroken, because of her unscrupulous betrayal.

This was all before Malichor; this was well before the Beast reappeared after the chemical incident with Adonis. Yet even then, after Beast Boy was noticed as the monster, Raven tried to reach out to him, as he seemed to do with her. Raven was ready for a new beginning, but secretly they were both pushing away. Beast Boy was still in deep mourning over Terra, and Raven's seventeenth birthday was vast approaching, her birthmark could no longer be concealed, and her heart sank yet again. The sorceress had just found her footing to step up, to reach out and to take a risk, but it was too late, and she became the portal.

When her father called for her, it had cast a blanket of never ending sorrow, over every aspect of her life. Slade was the unpleasant messenger that Trigon had sent, and the dark lord was bent on having his daughter, receive the final offer. Raven had told herself to keep the others out, to keep Beast Boy away in an effort to protect them all.

The End Of Days, had been brought before the world.

Yet this was merely another impasse in her life, another page that had yet to be turned. Of all the Titans who could have found her, it was the team leader, Robin, who brought her back to her feet, he reminded her of the powers that she possessed, and the hope that he carried on his shoulders, for the both of them. When she thought of hope, she began to think on Beast Boy, and in a deeper sense, that notion to find love once more, was the key point in her fighting back against the dark lord. Raven honed in on that powerful emotion, and both her former self and powers were channeled back, like it was a blessing from God himself.

Upon confronting the menacing shadow, that haunted Raven's whole life, and with the crisis finally over, she reversed the damage that she had caused, and the world was restored. Gradually, more time passed and after the group's return from Tokyo, only after Beast Boy transformed before her very eyes, barely a few days ago, it was then that she could see, that the feelings that she thought were only on her mind, were also on his.

Now that Falcon was in the picture, things slowly began to blur. The manifestation of Beast Boy's conscience, he had given her a test, and she felt that she would need to come to terms with her growing respect, and care for Beast Boy, in order to ace it.

She would have to face the deeper truth within herself, and she was running out of time.

"If only it were that simple." Raven whispered to herself, as she reopened her eyes.

Raven pondered over her many boiling questions, of the various moments of her confusing and torn down love life, of her own fears and doubts, on how the green shape-shifter's mind was so complex, and distorted.

As the Empath tilted her neck for a short second, to loosen her cramping body, there came three solid knocks on her door.

"Hey Raven, mind if we ... talk?" Robin's voice was heard, from the other side of the divider.

The Empath pulled her sharp hood over her face. She had been unable to gain a decent night's rest. With all of the issues transpiring, she had been staying up longer than she had first conceived. This week, she did not get much more than ten hours of sleep, and it was beginning to show on her attractive face.

As the Boy Wonder scratches the back of his head, the 'whoosh' from the door reveals to him, the dark sorceress's gloomy and mysterious bedroom. Raven was standing in the middle, and the aroma of a sweet nectar fragrance, tickled his nose. Sometimes, she would put on extra perfume to confuse her guests, with what she could be thinking about.

Robin's Adam's apple moved.

"What is it Robin?" questioned the Empath, in her normal, rasping monotone. Her eyes were a little glazed, and it was the only visible feature to notice, from behind her cowl.

The team's captain, then held onto the center clasp of his belt.

"Look ... this is kind of a serious matter and I think we should talk somewhere ..."

"Privet." Raven cut him off. "Alright, come on in then."

The cloaked demoness motioned to the side, and she allowed her friend to enter the sanctity of her bedchambers. Once the door slid closed, Robin turned around, and he faced his teammate. The Empath could tell just by the way he was standing, that something big was on his thoughts.

"You know why I'm here." said Robin, who also appeared to have a somewhat exhausted expression, across his face. His skin color even looked a little bit like her's, but it may have just been, the limited lighting within the room. Some of the candles were flickering, while a few of them had long since burned out. The vagrant yet sweet and subtle sent, caused by the ceremonial pieces, also worked on him, and they made him feel strangely calm, at peace.

Raven's room sometimes drew the Boy Wonder's thoughts back, to when he went to visit the Grand Master. It was within her temple upon the mountain's peek, the meditation and soothing atmosphere to hone his own skills, inside of her dojo that tickled his memories now.

"This is about Falcon." Raven said with her back still facing him. " There is something new developing, and you need my guidance. That is why you came to my bedroom door, isn't it?"

The Boy Wonder shrugged his shoulders, as he watched the girl, walk in a circle around him. She crossed her arms, and he took this moment to clear his throat.

"Raven ... I uh, I need to talk with you about Beast Boy."

"Beast Boy. Why?" Raven cocked her right eyebrow, in an upwards motion.

"Raven ... he is our teammate, our friend, but there is something else going on that you should know about." He switched his focus onto the floor, and then slowly he moved his eyes behind the mask, back towards her gorgeous, and entrancing pair. "Something happened today, in the Tower's Gym."

"What happened?"

The Boy Wonder had finally found his determination, after a short hesitation, to reassure himself that his conviction was right. He needed her on his side, yet for a split few seconds, his conscience made him draw a dangerous connection, towards the criminal mastermind that had haunted him, since the beginning.

"Things were going by smoothly, at first." Robin began his story, "But there is still something eating away at me ... telling me that we may have rushed into something. Something that we shouldn't have."

"It's never too late to go back." Raven was a stickler when it came to details. "Falcon joined the team, so then, how does Beast Boy fit into this ... um ... problem?"

"I'm coming to that." said Robin.

Silence.

"Well. Come on Robin, this issue isn't going to just solve itself." said Raven.

"In the gymnasium, before I got there, Falcon was his typical quiet self. He pushed everyone else away, and he seemed like he was planning, to continue on his journey."

"So then, he doesn't want to join the team." Raven said. "But that still doesn't explain, on why you need Beast-"

"Once Falcon left, we had Beast Boy go and talk to him. To try and bring reason to him." Robin took a short breath, and then he continued. "That was when I came up with a plan."

Raven studied his body movements cautiously, she was trying to decipher all of the surreptitious details. There was something, simply unnerving about this topic; where the Boy Wonder's sudden pacing became rather unsettling to watch.

"What plan?" she asked. "I still am confused with how exactly, Beast Boy fits into this?"

The Boy Wonder could still recall the swinging punching bag, the smear of red blood across the surface, and the creaking of the metal chain, that supported the heavy weight. Then the image of a blond haired geomancer came into his mind, and again, his Adam's apple moved.

"This is not going to sound right, just, hear me out." Robin said; "Beast Boy is going to try and befriend him, more than the rest of us can."

Robin began to pace back and forth, while Raven leaned against her dresser.

"I can see that Beast Boy would cheer up most people, but having him work on Falcon like that ... well, I don't see how exactly, that this is going to pan out." The gray enchantress deadpanned. "Maybe we should just cut our losses already."

Almost immediately upon hearing this, Robin stopped his walking, and he moved towards her.

"We cannot do that!" Robin fired back.

"Why? Why is it so hard for you, or anybody else for that matter to just let him go? Maybe this was all that there was to be found, in this so called friendship between us."

"After Terra's betrayal, I made a rule for myself. A solid pledge!" Robin said, and this caused Raven to become mute. It was becoming even more obvious, that the geomancer's treachery had left a deep wound, still sensitive to the others. "While we as a group may only have a few years of experience together, from the tragedies and terrors we have overcome, from all of the good we have done, I refuse to allow someone who is in need of help, simply face it on their own." He then moved his attention to the floor. "I thought you would understand that, after everything we have been through."

Raven was flabbergasted. She blinked her eyes and moved her attention from the floor, then back to Robin's mask, that covered only his eyes.

"Robin ... I too made a rule following those events. It was to protect my friends, the only family I have ever truly known. Falcon is not one of us, and while I do understand what you and the others did for me, things were different."

"I had my doubts earlier ... believe me, but I will not abandon him!"

Raven silently nodded her head. "You have strong conviction in him, don't you? Well, I guess that is why you are the leader of this team. But getting back to the issue at hand; you want Beast Boy to get closer to him."

"Right."

"So you can get information from him?"

Robin moved his head up and down this time, without uttering a word.

"I see." said Raven. "You want to help him, and even if Falcon refuses your offer, your obligation, your oath is forcing you to do something, drastic."

"The thing is, Beast Boy only believes and knows, just one part of the reason he was sent. Me and the others haven't told him everything. He doesn't need to know."

Raven's right eyebrow, it quickly moved upwards from this. "The others?"

"Cyborg and Starfire are with me on this ... and now-"

"Oh, let me guess, that's the real reason that you're here. To get me to join in on this as well?"

Robin rubbed his chin before speaking. "Look, I need you to understand this, it is a complex matter that can quickly get out of hand, but if you can get through to Beast Boy, and find out what he knows about Falcon ... well, do you see what I'm trying to do here? Instead of us all going after Falcon at the same time, this approach is more ... subtle."

"A domino effect." Raven answered. "You're trying to pull the strings, without getting your hands dirty."

"I don't want to put it into terms like that ... but, I don't really see any other way."

"What if you went to Falcon yourself?" Raven replied as she pointed to his chest. "Don't you think that maybe ... instead of having your teammates going through this, that if Falcon somehow saw you genuinely trying to bridge that gap, that maybe ... he might just give you the answers you are after?"

Robin listened to her gently exhale, before speaking in turn.

"You have keen insight on the subject, I'll give you that one Raven." Robin grinned. "However, Beast Boy is the best one, the only real chance to make a connection with him. He's much better at welcoming drifters, more than any of us typically are."

Just then, Robin's communicator beeped, and the untimely interruption had caught him off balance. He picked up the device and opened the top flap, where Cyborg was on the screen, in a very dimly lit room.

*Hey Robin, did you tell Raven yet?* asked the team technician.

"Yeah." The Boy Wonder replied, as he quickly glanced from her face, and then back down to the screen.

*So then, is she in or what?* Cyborg asked.

The Empath crossed her arms, and then during this lingering pause, she shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't see this as a good way about doing things, but, I'll play along." said Raven.

"Yeah, she's in." Robin said in the device. "What did you find?"

*I don't want to say it via com-link. We may have found something, something big, but I think you should both come and see it for yourselves.*

"Right." Robin said back. "We'll be there in five."

*We'll be waiting. Cyborg out.*

The little screen turned to static, and the team captain turned off the signal, and he placed the communicator, back onto his belt.

"So while Beast Boy is befriending Falcon, you had the others do a little digging?" Raven watched him, slowly walking towards the door. "This is a side, that I don't think I have ever seen from you before, Robin. On sneaking around your friends like this."

Raven caused the door to slide open, and Robin remained in the hallway, with his back to her.

"There are things that I have to do, things that must be dealt with. This is just one of those things, I ... I cannot fully explain it, I just need you to understand. I cannot do everything, but this is something that has been bugging me, since we first met him in the streets." He felt her uncompromising presence move alongside him, as he waited.

"Alright Robin." Raven spoke up. "You have your reasons, and if Cyborg and Starfire agree with you on this-"

"They do."

"Well, you have yet to lead me astray." The gray sorceress briefly paused. "I said that I would help you, so let's go and see, what it is that they have for us then."
The door slid closed, and the two bird named heroes walked down the long corridor, and they headed for the stairwell.

---

As they walked, the windows above their heads revealed the fading light, of the outside world. The electrical glow of buildings turning on across the city, it was seeping through the shades, and arching over their bodies as they followed the path. The sound of their footsteps changed, from a tiled floor to a carpeted hallway, once they had exited the stairwell. They were on a lower level, and for the rest of their journey, they did not speak.

Raven did not like holding specific details back from any of her friends, but she then remembered, that she did not tell Beast Boy everything; and now a new problem was altering her good mood.

While Raven pondered over this, the two teammates had finally reached the Evidence Room. The door was locked, and Robin quickly tapped on the computer console, punching in the seven-digit code, where the red lights on the screen, they quickly changed to the color green. The divider hissed, as the locks and gears on the inside, revolved and unhinged, allowing the pair of superheroes to move inside.

Titan's Tower had become a key target, for countless villains, psychopaths, bank robbers, space aliens, and criminals over the years. Certain steps had to be taken, as the pristine place was very easy to spot, from any place throughout the city. There were multiple defensive features, barriers and obstacles that shielded the Teen Titan's home, where the foremost of these, was the Pacific Ocean.

Their base is on an island, isolated and it is only connected to the mainland by an underground tunnel, that runs hundreds of miles below the waterline, and it links into the heart, of the ever expanding Californian metropolis. Where the secret roadway opens into the city, only the Teen Titans know of its location.

There were multiple backup features, to protect against air assaults, with missile defenses. There were hundreds of mines, that forced choke-points along the water's edge, in case of a sea assault; and a sophisticated network, of the most up-to-date radar system and computer hardware, that was manufactured by Wayne Technologies. It went without saying, that within Titan's Tower, it was a mighty bomb shell bunker fortress on its own, while the security program was also backed with the latest gadgets, from S.T.A.R. Labs. But unfortunate events transpired, forcing even more changes.

After the H.I.V.E. Five had made it their home, with Slade nearly sinking the entire foundation beneath the very sea, or following the event when Terra had hacked into the network, where she had allowed hundreds of robots to assault the base, and with Red X somehow able to infiltrate and steal the Boy Wonder's old battle suit, right from under his nose, all of these issues forced drastic changes, to every sector of the building.

No matter how many times Cyborg kept on installing new and better programs, regardless of the endless hours, and money that was backed from taxpayers, and the team leader's own funds, of everything being poured into their home, there were always more weaknesses to be exploited. Robin never truly felt safe, even in his very room.
Robin had even contemplated of moving their home, to a more secure and underground location, where the option he had in mind, was to the remote hillside of Jump City, just by the oil fields and the extensive southern Californian desert. This was near the place, where the team had located the blond haired geomancer, running away from the giant scorpion.

From his own mentor's top lessons ever learned, one was to have a base of operations that is unknown to the public, to truly be safe and secure. To be close to the city, and to be able to emerge without anybody knowing, from where you are coming, or from where you return to, at the end of the day.

But, it was a unanimous decision, even after the countless events, that had nearly made them homeless. Titan's Tower was a symbol to Jump City, and to honest and decent people everywhere, it was a monument of hope, of justice. The Boy Wonder's teammates were comfortable here, and he was not going to challenge them on it. So the only alternative that was available to him, was to upgrade the security programs weekly, to pour more money, and more resources into the little island.

For how much longer they would keep the status quo, it had a short time life, and every month when the team leader brought up this obvious concern, during a routine meeting with his friends, the Boy Wonder made the motion to move their base, some-where discreet. The Tower would stand as it was, but they would live elsewhere, and as the time slowly dragged on, Raven was starting to see things his way, but the decision had to be unanimous. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg, were always opposed to the idea.

As Robin led the sorceress to the back of the Evidence Room, the door locked behind them. A few of the lights from overhead, illuminated the floor with a white glow; while the many artifacts, taken from captured or defeated foes, they also reflected the light as they passed by.

Within each of the see-through, re-enforced glass containers, the many trophies that the team had acquired over the years were noticed. Raven looked to her left, and she found the remote control that once belonged to Control Freak, who was nothing more than a mind numbing annoyance to her. The Empath also looked at the broken Trident, it was when Aqualad had come to them for help, fighting his arch rival.

As they passed by Slade's mask, the very one that had caused Robin to hallucinate in the dark, it sent a quick shiver up Raven's backside. After she and the others had found their captain, so broken, confused and enraged, the Empath felt soothing compassion for him, after seeing it again.

At the end of this section of the Tower, another door was reached. It was also secured shut, and again, the leader punched in the access code.

The familiar noise of fingers typing away on a keyboard, quickly reached both of their ears, as they patiently waited by the entrance. Cyborg was found sitting in front of them, his back was turned and he was sorting through countless files, and other programs on the desktop computer. There were eight screens on the wall, and each one contained different images, some had green and blue encoded numbers, something that computer programmers would typically find, while photos and rap sheets of criminals, were on a few others.

Starfire in the meantime, she was standing alongside him, her posture was firm and yet, she kept her head bowed down, as though she was mentally drained. There was a great amount of data being sifted through, and laying upon two of the long tables behind them, binders with more case files were left open, as the three printers in the room were heard beeping and buzzing, spitting out more and more data, that was covered with mug-shots and other statistics.

Now, as the second door within the Evidence Room 'Whooshed!' closed, Starfire turned to look at her beau, and then to the Empath. Robin crossed his arms over his chest, and Raven copied him.

"Five minuets, huh?" Cyborg spoke up, but he refused to break away from his meticulous job at the desk.

Robin cleared his throat by coughing, ignoring the ribbing statement. "What were you able to find?"

"Nothing much on the J.C.C.D.B." (The Jump City Criminal Data Bank) Cyborg lightly expelled some of the circulated air, out from his lungs.

"Wait, why were you looking there?" Robin asked.

Cyborg kept typing. "We figured that it was worth a shot, just to be a little more thorough."

"I see." Robin replied "What about the F.B.I or C.I.A. databases then?"

"While both contained a good amount of records on various gangs, and other minor criminal records across the globe;" Starfire spoke up; "There was still, not enough sufficient data on the subject, that we were in search of."

"More dead-ends." Robin spoke softly. "Hmmm, this is not looking good."

"I thought you guys ... had found something?" Raven's rasping voice, now cut into the debate.

Cyborg quickly stopped his task, he leaned back causing the spinning chair to creak from his weight shifting. He rubbed his neck and stood up, as a few more papers were noticed spitting out of the printers.

"We did." The technological expert answered.

"But it was not, in the N.C.D.B." Starfire said next, in her heavenly voice.

Robin took a step closer, towards his second-in-command, which was Cyborg.

"So then, where did you look?"

Silence.

Cyborg used this short pause, to piece together his findings. "Well." the gear-head said at last; "If you want to catch a fish, you typically use bait. Depending on the type of fish, you also need a special kind of lure, to bring in the fish you are after."

"Right." said Robin. "And if you want to capture an even bigger fish, then you use your first catch, to lure in a fatter prize. So then, what were you able to find, after all of this digging?"

Cyborg stroked his chin. "You told us to look for various things, not really specific enough for a search like this, for there wasn't much to go on anyway. So, after a few hours of looking in these places, that's when it hit me."

"When what did?" questioned Raven.

Both the beautiful Tamaranean Princess, and the muscular team mechanic, glanced at each other. The mood between the heroes was eerie almost, while it may have been hopeful, noticing all of the trophies acquired within the previous room, where the two teenagers who had just entered, dwelled over the many memories, yet there was something rather sinister, taking shape now.

"Robin." Starfire was heard. "Before we met, before we became a family I mean; you had a different home. Am I correct?"

"In Gotham, why? What has that got to do with this?"

"I ..." The Tamaranean Warrior, stopped herself all of a sudden. "Forgive me Robin, for I did not know about certain ... facilities, that your previous home has at its disposal."

The team leader looked from his girlfriend, to Cyborg, and then back to Raven. He did call the Gothic, rustic and old metropolis, his home at one point. But that was a very long time ago, where before that time, traveling with the famous Haley's Circus, to various cities and places, in the small caravan with his parents like they were wandering gypsies, that was his real first home.

"This is about Arkham." Cyborg said at last.

In hearing the dreaded mental asylum escape from his lips, a place for the criminally insane, the unhealthy, and the deranged patients; it caused another lasting pause within the group. Already Robin did not like what he was hearing, and now, Raven was beginning to grow very nauseous, as she put the pieces to this story together.

"Raven you seem, um ... pale-er, than usual." Cyborg was heard. "Are you alright."

"Yeah." rasped the Empath, while she clutched her outer cloak with a more firm grasp. "I just have a bad feeling. Cyborg ... where are you going with this?"

The team mechanic moved back into his seat, he did not turn around where instead, he shifted his attention, towards his feverish typing.

"You know by now, as Robin had said earlier, that this task is about our current guest." Cyborg implied.

"I think I got that." said Raven, stepping over the odd stone, of how Beast Boy still fit into the mission.

Starfire's eyes light up with some enthusiasm, as she decided, that it was now the proper moment, to reveal what she and the gear-head had uncovered.

"Well, we did find something." The red head began speaking; "But I am now uncertain, over what it truly means."

"When you told me to check up on Falcon's story, well, I did as thorough a search as I could. Where, I did not find a criminal record."

"Well." announced Raven. "That's a relief."

"Yeah." The computer expert continued; "But that is when, it takes a turn for the surreal."

"Go on." Robin joined in.

"Rob ... I don't know how to say it really, as Star and I have been sifting through this stuff for a good number of hours. Typically there is a trail; a birth record, a driver's license, a bank account or even, a bit of medical, or dental history with just about everyone."

"Even as superheroes." Starfire replied; "It is true, we do have our own minor ripples, but that is with alternate identities. As protectors of this city, we try to leave out anything, that can trace back to who our families, and close relatives are.

"So what you are saying, is that Falcon doesn't seem to have any of those." Raven deadpanned. "And that if he does, he's really good about covering his tracks."

"Either that, or someone made damn sure, that he never existed."

"But you did find ... something, through it all?" asked the Boy Wonder.

"Well, as I said, you would have to see it for yourselves." Cyborg answered. "To make a long story short, I did some hacking into our own government secured networks. After we kept on coming up empty handed, until ... we hit pay dirt. Look at the center screen."

Upon noticing their captain, and the gray Empath moving a few inches closer, Cyborg continued typing away, and then a picture of Arkham Asylum popped up on the monitor. Then, the other screens also switched into profile mugshots, and other records from this dark, and very unstable facility.

"Hold on just a minute!" Raven spoke up; "I thought that he did not have a record, and yet if this is what I think it is, then what you have just told us, well, it doesn't make any sense!"

Cyborg sighed. "Just, look to the center screen, please."

Raven switched her attention from the gear-head, to the computer monitors and the image of a destroyed house, completely devastated from a fire appeared before her. Newspaper clippings of the event were on the screen as well. Next to this, another picture came up; it was of a seven-year-old, very gray skinned boy. He was wearing a prison jump-suit, and donning a black eye-patch over his right eye.

There were close-ups of his face, and on the back of his neck was tattooed a bar-code, just below the hair-line. Across the side of his orange jump-suit that prison inmates would wear, the bold numbers of the tattoo he wore, in a sequence were 8762488.

"No." Raven said, backing away in fear. "That ... that cannot be him!"

"Cyborg." said Robin; "What proof do you have that this ... er ... child, is even Falcon? I need good hard evidence, and still, nothing you have so far, is even adding up."

"I know, I know ... but just look at that kid!" Cyborg shot out of the seat, and he turned to look at his friends. "From what I could gather off of the encryption, there was very little record, of who he even is."

Raven studied every monitor closely, she acted as though she were a hawk, trying to locate the smallest detail of something that did not belong, hidden well beneath everything. Then as she started to read a paragraph of his bio, and it was here that she noticed another folder. She clicked on it, where a choppy audio recording, began to playback slowly for the group. The background voice carried a slight German accent, where the older gentleman's voice had a bit of a rasp, and it was calm.

---

*Patient number 8762488. Age, seven years; gender, male. Brought to Arkham Asylum for rehabilitation, and physiological evaluation following a cataclysmic, and still unsolved cold case that has occurred, during the nighttime hours of the 24th of December, within his home in Massachusetts. The patient exhibits strong emotional mood swings, fluctuating between paranoia, rage, fear, and slight dementia, which if left untreated, the patient may prove ... hostile. Further testing, and documentation is required. This is interview 001 ...*

"How are we feeling today?"

"I ... I don't wan't to talk. Just leave me alone!"

"Oh, but I am here to help you. Alex, won't you let me at least try, to help you?"

"N-n ... no. Trust me, we're here to help you is what they'll say, trust us, this won't hurt. It's all just bull, and you can quit calling me name that too! For what does it matter anymore?"

"Why would you say something like that?"

"Because we both know, that the numbers on this shirt, the very ones you put on the back of my neck, that's all I am to you, and the other pestering doctors of this mental facility! You might as well call this Auschwitz!"

"Now that is not true. But, if this is how you want to play it ... very well. 876, you put on quiet a display in my office, when you were first administered to this facility last week."

"What do you care?"

"Oh ... that you seem to have a higher tolerance to pain, than most young boys at your age can carry. You have keen insight to things, and you don't like to be pushed around. You know, that is fairly impressive, it is something that marvels me."

"Look, nobody can help me. Just go away!"

"For all of the lacking evidence that I found within the police report, I do believe that you can help. In some way or fashion, you should be able to give me the pieces, so I can then fill in the blanks for you."

"Wh ...what do you mean?"

"You can account for a shadowy figure, who partially blinded you, who has been haunting your nightmares, and to whom you claim brought about your current ... predicament. Hmmm, I find that quiet fascinating as well."

"How is this fascinating!?"

"Oh, there is a connection to you and, many other patients at this very facility; only ... it is from a rather, different shadow. I thought that perhaps ... someone else was responsible, but it would appear, that I am mistaken."

"Don't you EVER, speak of him!"

"And why not?"

"THAT is a demon, not a man. He ... he did this to me!"

"I can see by the black patch, covering your right eye, that it must have been quiet a terrible ordeal. Tell me 876, do you know who ... the shadowy figure is? I see that you are quiet the bright adolescent child, your manuscript from your school is truly impressive, to say the least."

"What about it?"

"Well, it says here that you are a good student, at the top of your class, where you excel in going above and beyond in your working assignments. However, you have a tendency to ... lose your temper. Fighting during lunch, arguing with other students, and spending most of your time, secluded, or in the principle's office."

"What does it matter anyway?" The boy asked.

"Hmmm, in any case, there is something about you, something that most children at your age, do not understand."

"And that is?"

"Well, apart from your school records, there are other areas that you may know a great deal more, than your peers. Your father for example, he served his country. A man of high military standing, a colonel in the Delta Special Forces. Is this correct?"

"So you know things about me and my family, big deal."

"On the contrary ... the things I know are but minor details. You as a child seem to know more about certain subjects ... of how to take things apart, and how to put them back together; much quicker than a normal boy at your age, is supposed to understand."

"So, what do you care?"

"I care, because I am trying to help you."

"Yeah, right."

"The police who investigated the scene, they found no traces of any other person, around the area. They only found ... you."

"That's impossible!"

"Elaborate."

"Because ... I. Wounded. Him. I know that I did, I-I stabbed him, hurt him."

"Go on."

"There was blood, we fought outside, clearly there is evidence! Check inside the house! Look, I may be just a kid, but I have watched enough cop shows to know, that all crime scenes have DNA, something, anything!"

"Well, if you watch enough police and criminal televised programs, then you must surly know, that only if the person has a previous record; then can it be traced through a databank."

"I ... I just want to go home. Please."

"This is indeed more complex, than I had first presumed."

"What was that?" The young boy asked, as his tone of voice became softer.

"Tell me 876, you say that you want to go home, that you remember a strange man attacking you, and that there is evidence all around the crime scene. If this is true, then why wasn't there any blood. What proof do you have, that you were indeed attacked by this ... demon that you claim?"

"Proof? I was sent here, do you honestly believe, that I could pick up anything, and hold onto it, before your lackeys searched me?"

"Even if there was the smallest bit of evidence, anything that was inside of your home at the time, it has been entirely destroyed, by a fire."

"Look, I know what I saw!" The child's tone was becoming agitated.

"The home you grew up in, the building that your father built, it is nothing but smoldering embers ... and ashes."

"No."

"And the monster, the demon that you claim that attacked you, unfortunately, there is no evidence to be found, that he even exists."

"How cant that be? HE was there, HE did this! What, you think that I did this to myself, that I cut my face in such a way?"

"Calm yourself."

"There was snow, lots of snow. He ... he must have left footprints, a trail ... something!"

"I am not going to warn you again, now calm yourself, or I will be forced to take drastic action."

"I ... I can only see ... no ... what are you doing wasting your time! He is still out there!"

"Easy child, calm yourself. You are safe, nothing can harm you here. Now please, tell me what happened that night?"

"It was cold ... so very cold. I have to get out! I ... I need to find him!"

"Guard, restrain him."

"Let me go! Ugh, NO! You can't ... do this! I have to get home! My sister, Rose ... she-she needs me! She is all alone!"

The noises of a bitter scuffle, against a metal table are heard, over the recording. Grunting sounds of anger, and a bit of profane remarks echoes about the tiny room, until finally, everything becomes hushed once again.

"Be still 876, be still."

"This ... this isn't right! I ... I need to get home!"

"You keep saying that you must get home. But there is no home for you to return to, and do you know why? I believe that you caused the fire, 876."

"No."

"That you were the one who lost control and, that you were the one to mark yourself, to cast blame upon someone, a person who was never even there to begin with."

"NO!"

"A monster, a demon that only a child would conjure up, to cover his own faults. Like a child after wetting the bedsheets, you ran and hid out of fear. Fear for what you had done!"

"I didn't do it!"

"There were no witnesses, there is nobody to back up your claim. The house you grew up in, along with any possible evidence, or family members to prove your innocence, all of it, has been lost. Hmmm, there is a startling pattern here."

"I just ..."

"Go on."

"I just had ..."

"Yes."

"I just had a very bad day, alright! One terrible thing after another."

"It sounds to me, like, quiet the series of coincidences. OR ... am I mistaken?"

"Well, you're the doc, you tell me."

"Do you truly want to know, what I believe 876?"

"No. And I don't care."

"I believe that there are no coincidences, things that happen that seem to connect, they rarely occur because of mere chance. You of all people should understand that, isn't that right 876?"

"I-I have to get out! I-I need to find my sister!"

"And I assure you, that I will do everything in my power to help you to recover. Unfortunately dear child, if you persist with these radical, and unhealthy outbursts, then you may find yourself incarcerated ... for a very long time."

"NO! Who ... who are you?"

"Tell me, why did you do it?"

"I didn't do anything! I ... I just want to go home."

"Hmmm, when you are willing to tell me more, about your strange tolerance to fire, and when you understand what you have done ... when you have come to terms, and are willing to accept blame, then perhaps ... I can arrange a release for you. Out from Arkham to a less ... restrictive facility."

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"My name ... is Professor Hugo Strange."

---

The sound of this truly disturbing recording, began to corrode, the tape was nearing the end of its reel, to the point where only static is left. The four Teen Titans within the cramped and somewhat claustrophobic computer room, they each stand in utter disbelief, as they try to make sense of what they had just listened to.

"So." Cyborg spoke up, then after clearing his throat during the unpleasant lull, he continues; "What do you think?"

"Is that it?" Raven asked.

"I tried looking for more, but as of now, no luck." replied the team technician, and then he quietly released his breath.

Starfire remained very still, her eyes were closed, and she appeared to be fighting the urge to weep.

"Then that is the only recording we have." Raven continued. "That still doesn't give us, any hard evidence to go on. It doesn't make a solid connection, to Falcon at all."

"Now before you say anything else;" said Cyborg. "There were things in here, things that do help us. Things that cannot be avoided. Like the back-story of the East Coast, the mysterious enemy that he claims, took away everything from him, his right eye. Even the features on his face, they all match with Falcon!"

"But those are only speculations!" Raven shouted. "We need good hard evidence to prove it. What is there, that we can go on? What makes this patient ... this poor child at Arkham, match with Falcon, OUR Falcon; other than simple rumors and theories, of a hopeless pipe-dream to maybe, possibly, solving this issue once and for all?"

"Raven-"

"Just ... forget it." the Empath deadpanned.

"NO!" Cyborg stood up. "We cannot just forget this, try to connect the dots like the rest of us."

Raven glared at him, now she was feeling the flip side to her very argument, when they came home after meeting the Necromancer in the downtown vicinity. It was truly bizarre to witness the gray Empath, at not joining in with this theory, but to be clear, the enchantress still did not trust their recent house guest. She wanted to be 100% positive, that there were no doubts about the subject, before making up her own mind.

"The only dots that you are trying to connect, are out of fear." Raven rasped, as she hesitated to draw herself apart from the group once more. "Fear can lead to some pretty irrational things."

"But he was from Gotham, Falcon was from that same city!"

"Again, just because there are similarities; it does not mean that, that poor child is the answer!"

Cyborg turned to the team leader; "Robin ... you have to back me up on this. I mean, you're the best investigator on this team, why your mentor is the World's Greatest Detective, so ... what do you think?"

With his arms still folded over his chest, the Boy Wonder waited patiently for a few seconds, to conjure up his own response. For every bit of time that ticked away, it only allowed the stillness within the room, to carry its own foreboding message. The team leader appeared to be leaning in favor with Raven, and like the Gothic heroine, he was becoming increasingly weary, about their most recent addition to the team.

"Cyborg, you've been at this for one day."

"Yeah, so?"

"There is too much to sort through, and being able to find a possible connection, after a single day's search alone ... well, it is very unlikely."

The black muscular mechanic, observed each of his friends facial expressions. Then he turned to the monitors again.

"Robin." Cyborg said. "I know that you don't like the whole, what if scenarios ..."

"I don't like where this is going already." Robin replied; "I think that, I may have to agree with Raven on this."

"Just ... hear me out for once." said Cyborg; "What if, I am right on this? What if that child, is in fact Falcon, whom we have allowed to spend the night with us, to eat with, to play games with, and to fight crime? What if, that is him?"

Silence.

"What then, would you be willing to do?" Cyborg finished talking. "What could we do, after hitting the point of no return?"

The team leader frowned, and as he thought about the unappealing notion, Starfire's hand was felt upon his left shoulder. Her gentle touch, always calmed his studious nerves.

"We will do what we can for him." Starfire said, causing the group to look at her. "I know that he has a good heart. Regardless of what this ... terrible information reveals to us, I ... I still believe that he is our friend, and that he has been truthful with us since we first met."

"If this is true, it sure is one big problem." Robin answered.

"I guess the question that remains however, is what's our next move?" Raven asked quietly.

"Cyborg." Robin spoke up again; "What other details have you left out? What haven't we gone over?"

"Not much." Cyborg turned his focus back to the keyboard, and he began to type for a while. Then, he stared at the upper right computer screen. While the other monitors were revealing different things about the case, this one remained showing the boy's face from the beginning.

Raven moved in again, and she lightly stroked the screen.

"Who are you?" she softly asked, rhetorically.

Cyborg groaned for a moment. "It says here, that he was found, beaten and bloodied in the snow, outside of what I guess was, his house."

"You mean, he was alone?" Raven asked.

"Yeah." Cyborg replied. "There was nobody to claim him, as a legal guardian. There were only a few neighbors living in the area on the back-road, apparently, they called the local authorities to pick him up. After the initial hospital visit, he was shipped to Arkham Asylum for further investigating. Poor kid."

"There are no living relatives then?" Robin drummed up another question.

"Nope." Cyborg answered. "As if that wasn't disturbing enough, when I did some further snooping about the Arkham Asylum mainframe, I hate to say it, but as a government run facility, testing and experiments were conducted on many of the patients there. One such group of patients, including but not limited to ... were animals and ... children."

The gathering of superheroes gasped in horror. The startling revelation was grotesque, and to learn that children much younger than themselves, were used like guinea pigs, like cattle, it only made listening to the details that much harder to fathom.

"Think about it." Cyborg spoke up; "Most people that go into these places, they are already disowned by their relatives and next of kin, where good honest people that could change things, who could give any number of reasons why these facilities should be shut down forever, they simply ... walk away. They wipe their hands clean of the mess, meaning that those patients are entirely, alone."

"That is ... heartbreaking." Starfire softly replied.

"It could explain why Falcon doesn't trust anybody." Robin stated. "IF, and I cannot seem to state this enough, if ... that is truly him."

A somber lull quickly followed, everyone was deathly silent.

"Was this all that there was, on the recording?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, Star and me went over the entire thing, like six times before you two showed up." replied the gear-head; "This was all there was to this one case-file."

"There had to have been more." said Robin. "Other recordings, video footage, records."

Cyborg rubbed the back of his neck, the familiar gesture was the cause of a strained muscle, that had become kinked, due to his hunched-over posture.
He was stiff and tired, hungry and groggy, but the questions only kept him going, to find answers, or to resolve mounting issues. There was nothing much to offer a glimmer of hope for him, primarily, all he got were dead-ends and the expressions across his fellow teammates faces, about the dark and quiet secluded evidence room, it showed him that they were feeling the same way as he was.

"Aside from what we have here, there are a few more encrypted files. I'm still trying to crack them, but hacking into our own government security, it seems ..."

"Illegal." Robin answered.

"I was going to say, dangerous but, yeah that too."

"What other files are you trying to get into?" Raven asked as she walked a bit closer. "I thought that you said you kept on hitting dead-ends."

"I am ... still ... but there are some places that I haven't been able to really get into, and it all pretty much relates to this one particular program run at the facility."

"And that is?" Robin chimed in.

"Well, the psychological profiles are scattered here and there, some files come up showing a thing or two like the one we just listened to but, the real juicy stuff, the real deep-end, departed from any real justice that our legal system can use, to seek any reconciliation for what one of the government's own facilities has done for decades ... it is in here that I want to check."

"Wait ... isn't there someone who could help you with this ... um ... area of expertise?" Raven stroked her chin, after speaking.

The group stood puzzled for a short while, trying to remember the name of the girl, who had caused such a curious spectacle, in the very early days that the team had become a family. She had long golden blond hair, blue eyes that would captured a person's entire focus, and fair milky white skin. The girl had a very attractive build, while she had curves in all the right places, and she typically aroused many would-be-boyfriends, yet she always kept the chase on-going.

"Who, Sarah?" Cyborg answered with a puzzled expression.

"OH YES!" Starfire said while clapping her hands with joy. "Sarah Simms, she helped to install the main infrastructure of Titan's Tower, when we were converting this beacon into our home! I think the skills to which she has at her disposal, would be of the utmost of value, to completing our current task!"

Cyborg rolled his eyes, at the mere thought of their old acquaintance.

"What?" Raven goaded him. "She is quiet skilled, and she is a renowned computer wizard from what I can remember."

"You mean to say ... that she's a hacker." Cyborg leaned back into the chair, and he closed his eyes. "Go on, you can say it."

"I am sorry." Starfire spoke up; "but please, elaborate on what this term hacker, entails? I hope that it is not someone ... with whom a hairball is caught within their throat, like the feline species of your planet are prone to do."

The other three Teen Titans within the room, became slightly queasy, as Raven's face appeared to change to the color green at one point. Cyborg felt that it was his duty, to correct this misinterpreted, and rather mysterious term.

"A hacker Starfire ... is one who bypasses the computer's mainframe, and gets through mostly all security systems, by generating new codes and traversing the normal firewalls, that essentially hold any would-be-thieves of corporate data, or even espionage at bay."

"Um, in English for those of us, who don't speak in one's and zero's please?" Raven deadpanned.

"It means;" replied Cyborg; "That a hacker is someone who is really skilled with computers, and can code or decode the binary functions of lets say the internet, or even the hard-drives of computers from far away, at which all computing networks function, being one's and zeroes. The term Hacker, it's just a coined phrase from this secluded community, it really is a true art form, when utilized by the right people, who can break down the core functions of even the most complex pieces of machinery, by attacking the very genetic coding that was written."

"I understand some of this matter, but I fear, that you have lost me when you were talking about the zero and one digitized numbers." The Tamaranean responded.

"In short." Raven answered her fellow super heroine. "She can get in, where we cannot."

"Pretty much." said Cyborg. "But the risks are too big, and besides, with how Big Brother is now, I don't think it would want a group of superhero's getting into this. We need someone on the outside."

"Oh." Starfire replied as she gently tapped her chin, with her index finger. "But I still do not understand, why you all feel so uncomfortable about her? She was a very nice friend to us, and from the best of my knowledge, she left to help with some other noble cause, of some growing protest movement for a healthier planet. Can we not contact her, to see if she would come?"

Cyborg changed another monitor screen to his upper left this time, revealing her picture, and a bit of a back-story about Sarah Simms. While the two girls in the room tried reading through more of the data, Robin kept some distance from the group. He smirked a devious grin, and before anybody could start up a new conversation, he beat the others to the punch line.

"Great." said Robin. "The one person who can help us, and not only is she on the far side of the country, but she also happens to be a bit of a mysterious fugitive, with a bit of her own criminal record. This just keeps on getting better and better."

"What?"

"Dagget Industries." Robin continued. "Run and operated by Roland Dagget, a huge multi-national corporation in fierce competition, with Wayne Industries, based out of Gotham. My town."

"This just gets stranger, and stranger." Raven deadpanned.

Robin leaned forwards. "Cyborg, I know that this may seem unethical, and out of the question ..."

"But still, you want me to hear you out anyway?" Cyborg asked.

Robin nodded twice, and after taking a moment to get his thoughts in order, he stated his next move. "Cyborg, with how far we have come, for what we are trying to do here, I don't think it would not be any more crazy, than what we already have going for us. I feel like I'm pulling at anything I can get my hands on, to use any tool at my disposal, to finish this task."

Both Starfire and Raven looked at one another, and then they turned their attention, right back to the two young men in the room.

"Wait, wait, wait." Cyborg started speaking.

"What is he talking about? What is going to happen?" Starfire asked Raven.

"Robin, I am willing to do some of the leg work, and I need you to understand, I can do just about anything you need me to do, but this … this is different."

"So then, you still won't do it?" Robin asked, trying to ignore the Tamaranean Princess's, burning question. "Surly after what we have uncovered, it must make you want to see this one through."

"Can someone please explain, what is going to happen?" Starfire begged a second time, as the team leaders bickered.

"Well, maybe I am done with her, okay!" Cyborg shouted right back. "I don't even know, if I could ask her."

"Friends, please do not quarrel." Starfire stepped in-between the two. Her always positive attitude, typically soothed the bitterness of all disputing parties. "What is the problem? I still do not understand, on what you can not come to an agreement upon."

Just then, the Tower's alarm began to go off, and the group of heroes were silenced from this new, and untimely interruption.

"It seems like someone, is trying to contact us." Raven spoke while turning to the door, as the red lights began to flash on and off, all around them.

"We could just answer it here." said Cyborg.

"What about Beast Boy and Falcon?" Starfire questioned. "Surly they will be wondering, where we are."

"Good point." Robin answered. "Alright, there is no point in wasting time, lets just all go to the Common Room, and get this over with."

"Agreed." Raven deadpanned as she made her way to the exit.

"But what about the investigation, the data, or our plan?" Cyborg asked while the others were just out of sight.

"It will have to wait." Robin said back, turning his head. "Lets go!"

Shortly after Robin, Raven, and Starfire hurried out of the evidence room, Cyborg turned one last time to the computer monitors, and he sighed. Moments before bolting for the door, he stopped himself as a data sheet with the mysterious child is printed off, followed by a number of pages, where the leading sheet with the letters M.S.R. is on the top.

"Military Scientific Research." The gear-head spoke softly, as he picked up the paper, carefully avoiding detection from the others, who were just down the hall. "This can not be good."

The team technician shut off the countless computers after saving his work. As the last of the pages were printed off, he tucked them into a green folder and placed it onto the counter, for further investigating. In a strange twist of fate, the other members of the Teen Titans felt a weird connection to that young boy of Arkham. Robin, Starfire, and Raven, they were all discarded from other, distant places; even Beast Boy who was not in the room. Cyborg could deeply connect to being an experiment. His body was rebuilt without his consent, and to understand loneliness of such a degree, in not having a place to return to, they all felt that the only family that they could find solace with, was with each-other.

---

Upon the windows of Titans Tower, countless raindrops began to pitter-patter across the thick and heavy glass. A dark and overcast night of a dense mist, was now enshrouding the whole of Jump City. The waves about the shoreline began to churn a little bit more violently, as the night-time Southern Californian atmosphere, was drastically different from just over an hour ago. It went from a peacefully clear star lit night, into a cold, bitter, and damp forecast.

It was the perfect mood, for how these heroes felt. They were all tired, befuddled and growing further upset with their findings, and like the unyielding rain that started to pick up a little bit more heavily, the next morning was a long ways off, as were the riddles they sought to solve.

The giant flat screen monitor within the Common Room was already turned on, where the logo of the team was seen by the superheroes. They all gathered around the main couch, with Robin closest to the computer console at the base.

"What seems to be the problem?" Falcon asked, while his hood covered his face as he darted into the room. The long and dark shadow of his blood red cowl, concealed him, like he was an assassin of a bygone era.

"That's what we're about to find out." Robin replied, and after a few key-strokes upon the keyboard, the insistent alarm was turned off. The empty image quickly came into life, before their eyes.

"Man, this had better be good. My alarm clock said, it's three thirty in the morning!" Beast Boy groaned, melodramatically.

"Sshhh." Raven hissed.

The blurry image quickly cleared up, causing the unenthusiastic, sleep deprived, and the cranky teenage superheroes, to be taken aback by a sudden shock to their systems. The man on the television was wearing a cold helmet, where the right side was black and the left was a brownish orange, as a single brown eye peered through the only hole, from the left. The few slits near his mouth, these allowed his voice to escape, to be clearly understood and yet, carrying its own forbidding tone.

He was both tall, and very muscular for an adult; giving him the appearance that he took great care of his physical body. He was seen, wearing armor that is grey and solid black. Behind him, there were many thick pillars, and directly in the middle of the background, a giant fan slowly rotated. These obstacles conflicted with the limited light about him, and he was concealed partially by shadows, of his hidden base.

"Slade." Robin uttered the dreaded name first, and both of these adversaries squinted their fixed gazes at one another, for a brief time.

"NO. WAY!" Beast Boy said, after stepping backwards a few feet.

Starfire and Cyborg groaned in discomfort, in seeing this madman; while the others in the room, they all simultaneously gasped in absolute mortification! Raven's captivating eyes grew wide, from who she saw before her now.

"Greetings, my dear Titans." The criminal mastermind began speaking, in his typical rasping deadpan. There was indeed a truly dark pleasure, hanging within his voice. "The moment of my return, it has long since passed onto a new day, a day of reckoning, a day of action. With all that has occurred in these dangerous few months of our parting, since Trigon's fall, you must have countless questions."

"Where have you been hiding Slade? What are you planning? Why are you back now, after any other chances to strike us, why now!?" The Boy Wonder desperately blurted out, ignoring his etiquette of composer, as the team's leader.

Slade chuckled, and this only caused the others in the room to shiver from this disturbing, and unwanted gesture. The criminal mastermind then turned his singular eye, from each of his enemies faces, and he was slightly perplexed, to notice a new member, cloaked in red standing alongside the Tamaranean Princess.

"Patients Robin, patients. All things do take time to explain." Slade retorted at last, regaining his attention upon his main rival. "In truth, I never really anticipated, my absence from this fair city, to be as long as it was. Unfortunately for us both, I had other pressing matters to hold my attention elsewhere. It would seem true, that in our parting, you and your friends have been kept quiet preoccupied, attending to the recent additions of the Titans East, dealing with the Brotherhood Of Evil, and assaulting the Brain's headquarters under the streets of Paris."

"How could you possibly know of what happened, you weren't there!" Robin shouted back.

The deadly villain, leaned his upper body closer to the camera. "In hearing you ask me that, I take it, that you do not know me as well as I thought. Surprising Robin, after all we have been through together."

"Just answer the question!" The team leader demanded.

Slade moved his body away from the camera again, giving his menacing figure a new and more imposing look for the others. "You must have some understanding by know, that any security cameras can be hacked into remotely, and while I may not have been there to fight you, know that I was watching; viewing you and your team's every move, and everything that transpired." His left eye narrowed once more. "I must say, that I was very impressed with how you handled the situation, Beast Boy."

"Excuse me?" The green shape-shifter spoke up.

"It was thanks to Beast Boy, that you were able to re-calculate the circumstances that had developed around you, with the absence of your always fervent leader, Robin, to guide you. You were all, in no small sense of the word … lost."

Robin clenched the sides of the counsel tightly, from a burning rage that boiled within him. He knew this to be the truth. The Boy Wonder had been captured, the Teen Titans were displaced, scattered, their base of Titans Tower was compromised, and they could not return until the day was won. They were on their own, and all hope back then seemed to be abandoned, but the few heroes who remained, they gathered what strength they could muster, and in doing the unthinkable, they pushed on to assault the hidden base, of their worst enemy yet.

A lasting hush crashed upon everybody, where the rotating fan behind the destructive villain, the whooshing of the metal blades, it was all that cut through the stillness of the air.

"But, let us not reminisce about the past; back to the issue at hand. You wanted to know of my business for calling you, at these early hours of the morning." Slade's rasping tone, it brought the group right back to their senses. "Since you went to solve that little issue in Tokyo, it allowed me to finalize my operations. During your leave of absence, I have been here, in Jump City, preparing, plotting, and recalculating my newest plans until finally, all things are now in their proper places."

"What is your game, this time Slade?" Robin demanded, as he folded his arms across his chest.

"There are many trials that I plan to dislodge upon you and your friends Robin, but do not worry too much, these things will come to pass. It is unavoidable."

"Enough of these riddles! Whatever your angle is, we will stop you!"

Slade's eye appeared to curl, it could be said that he was grinning behind the mask, that concealed his identity, his very humanity. But the only person who truly knew his facial expressions, was the madman.

"So confident, are we Robin?" Slade goaded him further. "That's good, that mighty flame of hope, the one that burns so brightly within you, that raw energy and power will be needed if you plan to stop me, from completing my objective."

"And that is?"

"However fruitless that your efforts may be, your determination and drive to succeed at anything I throw your way is quintessentially, your greatest strength, and yet your deepest weakness."

Robin slammed his right fist onto the counter, forcing a deafening thud to stir an unpleasant emotion, within each of his allies and teammates.

"What are you plotting Slade?" Robin kept up with the same question.

Slade was a masterful tactician, a truly evil and near impossible villain to capture or even approach. He evaded all of the members of the Justice League, he battled fierce competitors of the criminal underworld, while taking on the most insane contracts from wealthy clients around the globe. Deathstroke was a skilled and highly sought-after assassin, where these teenage superheroes known as the Teen Titans, confronting them was mere child's play. For any number of reasons as to his schemes, or his ultimate end game, the only person who knew what Slade was planning, was left to the master villain himself.

Where some criminals were known to exploit their opponent's weaknesses, Slade never hesitated to take things to the next, unbearable level. Playing things close to his chest, using the shadows to conceal his movements, being a relentless torment long after any number of his early phases of his plans, were already underway. Slade was a thorn in anybody's side. Even when he was gone for months at a time, the Boy Wonder never truly had that, peace of mind.

Robin knew that he would return. At some point, and in some diabolical way, that Slade would reveal himself from the darkness, when the Teen Titans were not ready.

"Now what would be the fun in that, if you and your little friends, knew what I was going to do?" Slade spoke after a lengthy silence.

"You can hide all you want Slade, but we will uproot you! You will be brought to justice!" Robin said while pointing his forefinger from his right hand, at their most dreaded adversary. The Boy Wonder was showing his cunning, and that he was not backing down in an assertive tone.

It was also noticed, that Cyborg was near another computer monitor, trying to get a lock onto where the signal was transmitting from.

"Good." Slade responded casually. "I will give you clues, but this is still going to be a challenge like always. Should you fail however …"

"We won't." Cyborg cut-in.

Slade placed his hands behind his back, before he continued talking. He knew that they were monitoring his message, but he did not lose his composure, even once. "Since you have a sixth member once more, you can move about the city rather quickly. In watching your encounter with the displaced H.I.V.E. members, your skills and combat abilities seems to have … eroded."

"Just get to the point already!" Beast Boy said angrily.

"Across this fair city, I have placed a great number of industrial sized oil drums." Slade replied. "Within each one, I have carefully and meticulously measured, examined, and diversified enough fertilizer, butanol, with trinitrobenzene."

"No." Cyborg replied, as his jaw nearly hit the floor. "You cannot be serious."

"How much of that stuff is in each barrel?" Robin demanded.

"What is it Cyborg?" whispered Beast Boy, he was cautious not to be overheard by the others.

"With a few of those ingredients by themselves, and they are all harmless. But once you start to play with chemistry, and in the wrong order of things …"

Beast Boy still looked perplexed, as did Starfire.

Cyborg made an explosion noise, followed quickly with hand gestures expressing the obvious dilemma. These items were but a few of the components, incorporated into this villain's own, dynamite formula.

"Oh." Beast Boy answered, as he finally got the picture. "Well why didn't you just say that you have bombs all over the city!?"

"Because Beast Boy, this way sounds so much more impressive." Slade proudly boasted.

"Where did you place them Slade?" Falcon asked, as he walked forwards.

"Ah, the newcomer." Slade bantered back. "Very well, answer this riddle and you will still be considered heroes. There are six locations, they are in fairly congested areas around this city. The explosives are too far parted from one another, to do any significant damage by themselves, but by the end of this night, there will be nothing but a crater in place of this metropolis. Countless lives depend on what happens around them from day-to-day, but what of this city itself? You have until sun-up, and judging by the time that you have received this call, that should leave you with barely two and a half hours, to reach your separate destinations, and disarm them."

"That's it, that's your message?" Robin asked. "I thought by now, that planting explosives for us to disarm, was way beneath you Slade?"

Slade gradually leaned his upper body forwards again. "You have no idea of what I am capable of. Besides, there is no information as to where to begin your hopeless search. You should know Robin, that this … this is just the beginning. Tick-tock Titans, your time is almost up."

The televised feed cut-out, and the great flat screen turned back, into its normal background of the Teen Titans logo. The Boy Wonder glanced at the team mechanic, where Cyborg shook his head in frustrated failure, as the tracking program had also ended abruptly. There was no possible way to locate, exactly where Deathstroke's hidden base was, from this quick transmission.

---

Robin bends his head down, in a gradual motion of despair. While he felt a rush of excitement at being challenged from his arch nemesis once more, a new plot had been dropped at his feet, and he had no further puzzle pieces, as to what Slade's real intentions were. To make matters even worse, it appeared that the explosives were set on timers, and in just under two hours, they would all detonate; unleashing a catastrophic and untold amount of destruction, across Jump City. Their home.

"Well, this is just great. Slade is back, he planted six bombs around the city, his riddles were cryptic as ever, AND … we don't even know where to begin our search!" Beast Boy threw up his hands, after plopping down onto the long blue sofa.

The others in the room looked at his crumpled looking face, where they soon turned to their captain, the Boy Wonder. Robin had now walked away from the console, and he was glaring out of the window, scanning the city. The rain continued to fall at a much heavier pace, where Robin was trying to stare past the towering building skyline, peering through the difficult weather and darkness, and searching without hope, without question, for his greatest enemy.

Slade was out there, in Jump City awaiting for Robin and his team to counter this threat. But instead of panicking as many would be prone to doing, this dangerous game of cat and mouse had been going on, for as long as the Titan's captain could remember.

"This is not going to be easy." Cyborg's voice echoed across the room. "I'm tired as it is, and now we have to go running around in the rain, looking for those things!"

"Yeah dudes." Beast Boy chimed in. "The last time something like this happened, I was stuck with a cold … for like four days."

"He's out there!" Robin said vigorously. "The city is in trouble, and we've got less than three hours to stop his plan, and take him down." He slammed his fist into his right palm, after turning around to look at his teammates.

"Yeah but Robin … if you didn't notice it, he didn't say WHERE he planted those bombs." Beast Boy rasped.

"With the knowledge we already have on Slade, I would assume that this is merely another ploy, to lure us away from each-other, so that he can strike at us." Starfire spoke up.

"Regardless of what his intentions are; we've got to figure this thing out, before we run out of time." Falcon deadpanned, as he stood along the edge of the couch.

"Slade may have given us, more than he had expected to give." Raven said, over the eerie silence of the room.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"Well, for starters there are six of us, he wants to divide us up, about those locations." Raven replied.

"Where I'm guessing that we won't be able to assist one another, should something bad go down." Cyborg said next.

"Exactly." Raven answered him.

"Yeah, but he never said where … exactly." Beast Boy whined as he leaned a little further down, onto the upholstered seat. "Good luck on your wild goose-chase then."

"Wait a second." Raven spoke. "Slade said that he planted the explosives in congested areas, but they are too far apart, to be noticed."

"So, we've gone over this before." Beast Boy answered her, while rolling his eyes in his typical sarcastic manner. "We know that he wants to split us up."

"Now hang on B, I think she is onto something." said Cyborg. "Many people's lives depend on what happens from day to day, where Slade then finished this curious statement, with a question of …what of the city itself?"

"It's not just random places about the city, that Slade is targeting." Falcon said next.

"Then it's the infrastructures within Jump City!" The Boy Wonder spoke at last. "That's the real objective for Slade."

Beast Boy ran his fingers through his spiked hair, as the unwanted loss of sleep was starting to get on his nerves. "Yeah, that really narrows down our options. There are like a gazillion targets that Slade could go after, what difference does it make?"

"Would you stop being so pessimistic Beast Boy, and try helping us out!" Robin shouted across the far end of the room, causing everyone to become mute. "Forgive me … it's just that we are running out of time, and we need do work together. We cannot afford to be at each-others throats now, that's exactly what Slade wants."

"Panic." Falcon rasped.

"Agreed." Starfire's gentle words, brought about a calm sensation once again. She stood alongside the changeling, and placed a hand upon his shoulder, causing him to look up."We must place our minds together, we must act as one cohesive group, in order to defeat him."

"Cyborg, pull up the schematics of Jump City, on the big screen." Robin said, as he gradually walked towards the others. His shadow suddenly became larger in the room.
The clicking of a nearby computer that the team's technological expert was using, was heard, and almost everybody's eyes were fixated onto the gigantic television once more.

"So, Slade planned for six major targets across the city. But what could they be?" Raven spoke up. "What exactly does Jump City need, in order to function?"

"Try thinking in the bigger picture here." said Falcon; "Jump City may be big, but it's just like any other major metropolis. It runs in the same manner, that all concrete jungles operate."

"You mean like the power grid?" Robin asked.

"Yeah." said Cyborg. "The main problem with that, is that there are three big places to go on that one idea. There is a nuclear power plant, a hydroelectric dam, and then, there are other the various electrical transfer stations, that break down the electrical current outside of the city, before bringing the electrical juice in."

"What about the transportation, within a city?" said Starfire, where all eyes focused onto the attractive red head.

"Again, that is another big one." Cyborg responded while rubbing his chin. "There are highways, the docks for the ships, the main airport, the train station, the subway system, and anything else in-between."

"By my count, there are a strong eight possible targets that we counted off from here." Robin said, "But it still doesn't narrow down those leads, any better."

"What targets from here, catches Slade's attention the best?" Starfire questioned. "There are too many areas to begin our search, on these places alone. We need to be more thorough."

"True." said Falcon. "But we can work with this. We have to keep digging."

"Ditto." Raven's monotone, echoed about them.

About the giant flat screen in the front of the room, an enormous map of Jump City came up, where Cyborg used the computer that was connected, to incorporate the data. Within a few seconds, eight blinking red dots, one for each of those locations they had just listed, came into view.

"I think we can safely bet, that the Jump City Hydroelectric Dam, will be a key target." Beast Boy spoke, officially ending the lull.

"Why there?" Falcon inclined.

Beast Boy straightened his posture upon the sofa. "Well for starters, that place supplies the entire city with fresh water, and being that the reservoir behind it, is pretty close to an outcrop of suburban communities, if that dam were to give out, then can you imagine the outcome … for those poor people?"

An unsettling stillness filled in for everybody once more, as not one member of the group took listening to these delicate statistics, lightly.

"I agree." Falcon spoke while clearing his throat. "The dam would be a high priority target, especially with the pipelines and other elements, Jump City would be effected from this for months, possibly even years until things were back to normal."

"That may be a bold strike, but what about the emergency personnel, the very people that keep things in order during moments of stress?" asked Cyborg.

"He didn't mention it was people though, but certain structures." Raven's monotone made them all think deeply again. Yet the team mechanic felt that he was onto something.

"True, but it could also mean, hospitals, police stations, and fire-houses." Cyborg retorted.

"Jump City Central." Robin answered, "The main hospital would be another place that Slade might hit, then there is of course the J.C.P.D. If one or more of those criminals in lock-up were to get out, our hands would be tied down for quiet some time, it would cause all sorts of bedlam for us."

The screen was showing more and more little blinking red dots, until now the total amount let to at least twenty-five. They were all separated by quiet the distance, and each of the destinations the group had mentioned, were of some important significance.

"Forget about the basic holding cells." said Beast Boy. "If I were Slade, I would go right for the big house, Jump City Penitentiary."

"That is way beyond the mainland, on a tiny island. The members of the H.I.V.E were taken there after our little spat at the scrap yard, as well as Dr. Light, Mumbo, and Mad Mod. Heck, just about every other villain we caught, they were brought to the new prison built specifically for that purpose." Cyborg finished his comrade's sentence.

"That is by far, the biggest target I could see him going after; but … I still don't see how that fits into this riddle, he gave us." The team captain deadpanned with his back facing the others.

"Robin." Raven's voice crackled a little. "This is Slade we're talking about. Anything is on the table, and all bets are off."

Robin squinted his eyes. "Alright. Now we have two better leads out of the rest, and while I am still on the fence about the second choice, I'm not entirely against it either. Cyborg, distinguish those two, from the rest."

"Got it."

The Jump City Dam light changed to a larger green blinking light, while the Jump City Penitentiary out in the little island, like Arkham Asylum in Gotham City, its blinking light changed to the color yellow.

"Um dudes, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but the clock by the kitchen says it's three forty-four in the morning." Beast Boy spoke.

"That leaves us with just over two hours Robin." Cyborg replied after rubbing his chin. "Talk about cutting it close, and we still have over twenty-five other targets to zero in on."

Robin slightly turned his head for a moment, as he honed into his detective skills. Key training that was taught by his mentor, which he sometimes ignored, but still remembered the basic principles from his earliest days of his crime-fighting career.

"I think …" Robin began. "I know, that the main power plant would be the most devastating to the city." As he slightly turned his head, Cyborg nodded and put in the new data. A dark blue blinking light, representing the Jump City Power Plant, now came into view.

"While we have three, the other half are still a more perplexing puzzle to me." Raven said as she paced back and forth. "The transportation is a mystery, with over ten different ways to look at, this one problem."

"Robin, if you went with your gut instincts on the last one, maybe I should state my case." The red cloaked teenager replied, upon pushing the cowl away. "The hospital, Jump City Central is too massive to ignore, and the panic that could ensue, would be too great to contain."

"Go on." said Robin.

"Besides." Falcon continued; "Most of the patients are in critical care, the hospital is one big sitting duck if you ask me. Then, being that the Jump City Rail-Road is only a few blocks from that place, I could check them both out, you know, hit two birds with one stone."

"The train station?" Cyborg bemused. "There is still the subway, that runs below the city streets. Why would he target one, and not the other."

"I don't know how else to explain it." answered Falcon, as he slowly looked away. "But if my going their, to the middle of the city could elevate two or more possible leads, then why not send someone, who doesn't mind doing, a little extra leg-work."

Falcon peered up to the screen, and as he walked over to it, he remembered the day he had arrived in Jump City. It was still, just under a week ago this morning. It carried a little sentimental value to him, and the hospital was close enough by, to rationalize factoring out extra probabilities, of any other bomb locations in the area.

"Well, alright." said Beast Boy. "Now we are getting somewhere!"

"Those are strong motives." Raven's monotone was heard. "There is another big target although, and if destroyed, a portion of the city could be cut off from the main-land."

"You're talking about the Jump City Bay Bridge." said Robin.

"But we still have those two sister bridges that connect the city from the East and Western banks." said Cyborg.

"I wouldn't mind going to those bridges, and then heading over to the dockyard. Besides, it is along the way." Starfire replied.

Two orange blinking lights are revealed in the middle of Jump City, the locations of the Jump City Railroad, and the main hospital; while four purple orbs glow on the map, for the three bridges, and the Jump City Dockyards, along the far south-western corner of the map.

"Well, there are a good solid five leads from those places." Cyborg rationalized proudly.

"Yet where would Slade's sixth target be?" asked Raven.

"The airport!" Cyborg shouted with a smile, he was overjoyed to have recollected the previous lead he had pointed out, at the beginning of the discussion. "Jump City International Airways, it's another huge target. Okay, so we have the airways, the waterways, the old train station, and the bridges connecting various parts of the city, I think that pretty much, covers the main means of transportation."

Shortly after putting the new data into the computer, all of the extra little red blinking dots go out across the schematics of Jump City, while a new and larger single one, takes its place upon the screen with the others, by the airport. The green light shows the dam by a nearby lake, the blue is over the nuclear power plant in the desert regions, a sharp yellow light is above a little island, the penitentiary, while two orange dots stand in for the train station and the large hospital, while the four purple dots, are revealed for the three suspension bridges, and the shipyards.

"There you have it, damn near close to six targets that are of crucial importance, to Jump City." Robin said, as they each studied the details.

"Whoa!" Beast Boy replied with a gasp. "This has got to be Slade's biggest tear-down of Jump City yet!"

"In knowing what we do, about Slade, I'm sure that this is just the start of some larger plan he has cooking." Raven said cooly.

The Boy Wonder faced his teammates, and while clasping the center of his belt, he spoke. "We'll deal with that later, right now we each have to take a location on the map, and stop him! Beast Boy, you head over to the dam."

The changeling shot out of the seat, and gave a quick salute.

"Raven, the nuclear plant in the desert."

"Right." was her answer.

"Since Falcon and Starfire have volunteered for their locations, that settles you guys."

The Necromancer simply and quietly nodded his head, in somber gratitude for his input being of value to a group; and Starfire smiled, as her beau slightly smirked back.

"I guess that leaves the airport and the the penitentiary." Robin continued speaking; "where do you prefer to go Cyborg?"

The team gear-head was not one to shy away from any fight, and the main prison for his cities worst offenders was a challenge worthy of him. He felt like taking on more of a risk this time, and if by doing this, he would prove himself in more of a leadership role, then he was keen to take it.

Cyborg raised and eyebrow after the question; "I think I'll take the penitentiary route, if you think that you can handle the airport."

Robin revealed a another grin, he was pleased that the larger co-captain was not at all phased by a more daunting obstacle to venture into.

"I shouldn't have any trouble." Robin replied. "Although you might."

"Why do I have this unsettling feeling, that there will be more than one surprise awaiting for us at our destinations, when we get there?" The gray Empath deadpanned.

"Slade did get members of the H.I.V.E back on our streets, and Cinderblock still is not accounted for, after the trouble with the Brain."

"I for one, would sure hate to run into Cinderblock on my own." said Beast Boy. "Are ya sure that we cannot just work to gather on this? Ya-know, like team up in pairs, or something?"

"There isn't any time!" Robin said with a firm tone. "We are already behind the clock, and with the distance to hit all of the locations, the best course of action, is by splitting up."

The green shape-shifter's pointy ears, slowly became a little droopy.

"But this is playing right into Slade's game!" The changeling threw his arms up.

"Beast Boy." Raven said as she put an arm on his shoulder. "Regardless of what Slade's real intentions are, this is the best option, that we have available right now."

"Besides." said Falcon; "If we do finish with one of our locations, other members of the group can try to link up. We'll stay in contact through the communicators."

Robin crossed his arms over his chest. "I know that we have our own doubts on this threat, and there is a lot riding on this, but this is the best counter-attack I can think of. I wish that we had more time, but its just not in the cards. The longer we wait here, bickering over this, that leaves us with even less time to reach our objectives, and being able to act."

The team leader despised dragging this conversation out any longer than it needed to be, now they were stalling and he had to hurry. Robin knew that the changeling's perspective was true, yet truer still, was the obvious dilemma that was becoming all the more real, with every precious second that ticked by.

"Titan's, GO!" Robin shouted with a resounding boom in his voice, and the heroes were immediately jolted into action.

---

The gathering of the Teen Titans had ended, as everyone raced for the elevators, and the backdoor to the Common Room. The blue cloaked Empath formed a shadow raven about herself, and she suddenly vanished out of the building.

Upon reaching the roof to Titans Tower, Falcon and Beast Boy nodded at one another.

"Don't worry dude." Beast Boy said as he stretched his arms, causing a few cracking and popping sounds to resonate about his body. "It's just a typical day, for your typical superheroes."

"And here I thought that you were the one, who was more apprehensive about this daunting task, than me?" answered Falcon.

"Well, whatever doubts we've got, lets just put them out of our minds, and do this."

"Right." Falcon replied. "Hey Beast Boy, when we get back after this … I mean, I don't know if I should stay or …"

"Nonsense!" Beast Boy cut him short. "When we get back, we'll play some video games. You and me, Mano-a-mano bro. I've been dying to test out the new console anyway, where the tin man and bird boy wonder, they always beat me."

"I uh … I don't know what to say."

"Don't put yourself down all the time dude, its still early yet! Besides, you didn't think that your stay with us, was going to be over that quickly, did you?"
The changeling smiled a very friendly gesture towards the recent addition to the team. There was not an ounce of doubt, that things could go wrong in their mission tonight. But for some reason, the Necromancer was stalling, and Beast Boy tried to put both of their restless thoughts, at ease. They were working as a team, where the youngest of the Titans understood, that right now they required all the help they could get, and if the fire wielder was uneasy about his role, the friendly and comedic hero wanted him understand, that the team still felt, the new kid had a place with them.

"Stay cool Falcon."

In the next moment, Beast Boy ran to the edge of the roof, and he had transformed himself into a powerful hawk.

"Yeah." Falcon rasped as he stood alone. "You too." The Necromancer closed his eyes, he put his hood over his face, and he hovered off the ground.

Beast Boy as a hawk, was off into the night-sky, soaring in a somewhat similar direction as Raven had flown, eastwards, to the dry desert regions and beyond the glow, and towering city skyline of Jump City. The changeling glides across the wind, and he screeched in a bird-call towards his fellow teammate, while Raven veered in a northern route, following the big high-tension power lines, that will lead her to the nuclear power plant.

Closing the driver's side door of his T-Car, Cyborg buckles up and puts the key into the ignition. The crisp and chrome colored vehicle roars to life, as the white and blue tint reflects about the garage bay.

"Oh yeah! It's time to show them all; what you can do girl!" Cyborg monologues with his most prized possession, and as the underground passage opens for him, he puts the car into gear, and with the gas peddle down as far as it can go, the team's technological wizard goes on his way, with a streaking trail of red tail-lights zig-zagging behind him.

Robin was at the farthest end of the Common Room, and as luck would play it, he was the last of the Teen Titans to depart, save for one more, Starfire. With the screeching tire sounds, coming from Cyborg's T-Car echoing all the way down into the tunnel, that led into the Tower's garage, Robin walked out of the elevator and approached his street-bike, the R-Cycle.

With a helmet tucked under his arm, he mounted the red colored vehicle, where he waits a few seconds before knocking out the kick-stand. Starfire dives down the hallway, and as she stands near him, their eyes meet.

"Starfire." The Boy Wonder stopped himself short, to make his words carry a little more significance. "Falcon and Cyborg will be the closest to you, once you check the bridges, if anything should go wrong …"

"I will." The Tamaranean beauty toyed with his cape.

"Just contact me when you reach the first bridge. The others are most likely to do the same, when they reach their locations."

"Right." Starfire said after pulling away slowly.

Placing the helmet onto his head, the team leader runs his right leg over the starter, and after a few heavy kicks, the super slick bike roars its own mighty tune. He plays with the throttle, hearing the engine hum, and he feels the vibrations of the home-made rocket bike. After flicking on the headlight, he raced out the very tunnel that Cyborg had used.

Faster and faster the Boy Wonder sped, on his way using the major highway, destined for the airport. The yellow glow of his headlight in front of him, showed him the way, as the door behind him to their base, lowered itself back down. Starfire had made her way to yet another level of the building, and she raced out of a secret side entrance. The Jump City Bay Bridge, was the largest suspension bridge in the city, and while it was simple enough to locate, it would also be the easiest objective to approach. Unlike the rest of her group, which would need to travel many miles, before even getting close to their destinations.

One thing was on everybody's mind, an issue that took total concentration, and other problems out of their thoughts. Slade was back, and he needed to be stopped.

{{ End Of Scene}}

---

Time for the weekly reviews:

Wolvmbm: "A great updated chapter, as Raven truly learns a lot about Beast Boy's history and past. Truly tragic for a man who smiles almost all of the time. :( Plus, Falcon and Beast Boy dealing with their feelings for Raven, as I can almost see that this may head into a fight, that even Robin couldn't see coming. :( Also Robin's plan is bound to backfire in some way. :( All this, plus Falcon and Beast Boy bond in some ways, that even I didn't see coming. :D Now that Raven knows the truth about Beast boy, and his feeling for her, what will she do next? Please do keep up the good work upon such a great story like this one. ;)

~~Wow, you really got a lot out of that update, huh? I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much. You seem to have a knack at following the clues, down to every very minor detail. Your reviews are always superb! I don't know what strength I have as a writer, where all I want, is to make you and all of the other Teen Titans fans, happy. :-D ~ ~

Avarici: " I think over all this is a pretty interesting story. Your descriptions are fantastic. Keep up the good work."

~~ I never really thought I could have a shot on this site, but I rolled the dice, and figured, "Eh, I might as well. What have I got to lose?" It took me multiple of weeks to formulate a back-story for Falcon, months even, and then after doing this, I had to meticulously go over every square inch, nook, and cranny of things of the classic show, and my own chapters. Character back-story searching, re-watching the episodes, re-reading comics, delving and weaving character development, plot and subplots, hooking ends and captivating dialogue; then the entire revision process, (mostly on my own) it is all part of the process. A very long and tiresome process I must say, but, I see the rewards in doing this. For you and the other faithful fans of course. ;-) ~~

Saffire55: "I FINISHED IT! I FINALLY FINISHED IT! GOD! That took me forever! I still love this story! Okay, now I'm going to try to read the 7th chapter! Wish me luck. Now, if only I can get this stupid cat off my mouse, and the other off my head ..."

~~ I know that the chapters can be ... taxing to read through. But, I think with everything going on, it is a difficult story to just quit half-way in. Don't you think? There is so much that I want to put in, where like a great film maker, I have to cut lots of extra stuff out, to make it work in just the right way. It may even seem like I am not taking a whole lot out, but then, if you looked over my rough drafts, you might be a little shocked, at just how much I do chip away. ;-) ~~

Linzerj: "GOOD JOB!"

~~ Thank you. ;-) In hearing even a few words, you have no idea at how uplifting it can be, to a writer. It proves that the many hours, sleepless nights, and vacation-less moments taken out of my own free time, to post something for you and the rest of the world to read; it may not mean a great deal to others, but it matters to me. I don't think it can even bring back the older show, but, we do have something in common. The Teen Titans. I don't know how to say it, other than writing brings out a passion, and a thrill for me. Writing this story, in a way, is just an outlet to cope, with the unsatisfied ending that we were left with from from Season 5. ~~

Scififanfreak222: "Aww! I'm so glad that Beast Boy and Falcon have bonded, and that BBRae moment was excellent. Beast Boy's flashbacks were so sad though ... :'( It's true he's been through so much in his young life, too much for any boy his own age. I really enjoyed this, and can't wait to read more!"

~~ I was going to reveal Beast Boy's history, I did it for the other Teen Titan's and so, now it was his turn. ;-) Most of the changeling's back-story is from the comics, and a bit from the show too. The televised program had barely 30 minuets of, "air-time". So, it cuts into the production stages quiet a lot, way more than the viewers tend to think about. On a side note, I had to find just the right way, after all that transpired between Falcon and the Titans, to help build a new friendship. It wasn't easy, but then again, writing a story of this magnitude never is. ~~

~~ T.M.O ~~