Surprise! Foamy here, still alive and kicking lol. This story has become a royal pain in my ass, but it's really all my fault. My brain tends to run helter-skelter at all times, so when the ideas start flowing i get lost for a while, get indecisive as hell. The original version of this chapter was completely different. It took months of fighting with myself for me to finally realize i was going against the flow of my own story, that i was trying to force it in a direction i had labled as Epic As Hell. But this particular story didn't have a real place for that, so i had to shelf whole scenes and start it from scratch. When i found something that worked and felt more in tune with Those Violet Eyes, it took less time than i thought to write it up. Which was a remarkable feat in and of itself since I'm working 12.5 hour days now, up to 6 days a week. What little downtime i have is usually sleeping.

Some things have changed in the story again. I'll likely go back through previous chapters and snip a few minor things out. Nothing that draws away from the core of the story, of course.

Ofc, the world is basically on fire right now, so i have no idea how many people will even read my stories anymore. I miss writing like i used to. This all-consuming work slump won't last forever though. One of these days I'll get my feet back under me, then y'all'll wish I'd stop blowing up your notifications with new chapters lol.

Well, i can fantasize that at least xD

BLM!

~Foamy

What a beautiful day. Slade thought to himself.

It was bright and sunny, warm and comfortable. If it was two degrees less, it would be perfect to the assassin. Still, he wasn't here to take a leisurely stroll through the park. He was here for business.

He did indeed stroll through the park, but it was more a brisk walk than anything and it most certainly wasn't for pleasure. He was suited in his armor (prepared for combat at all times) and had most of his weapons on him. Two dozen robots were also on standby nearby, having been activated at one of his various safe houses in Jump City. They would swarm the area at the slightest hint of trouble.

He wasn't actually expecting trouble. He was confident that Rose had succeeded in her mission. His daughter was his most talented apprentice, more so than Terra had ever been with her geokinetic powers. Even if Rose had failed him repeatedly, her training and successes somewhat balanced it out. He trusted his daughter, despite her one previous major mistake.

As he made his way through the wooded area of the park, he pondered if he should pay Terra a 'visit'. He hadn't had any sex since his resurrection and he did miss having the girl kneeling before him on a regular basis. Of course, he would have to both jog her memories of her apprenticeship (and thus her unique duties to her master) and punish her for betraying him. But how to do so in the most humiliating way was escaping him at the moment. Flogging? Bondage and body torture? Branding her? He just couldn't decide.

Still mulling it over, he stepped out of the woods and into a small glade hidden away in the miniature forest. Sure enough, Rose was there in civilian clothes with the children, sitting down and having a picnic.

"How quaint." He said as he walked up.

The children jumped in shock and spun around towards him. The little girl went wide eyed and darted behind Rose, who was getting up. The little boy just stared at him in confusion.

"You're late." Rose said, brushing crumbs off herself.

Slade hpmh'd and kicked aside a small black doll. "I could say that about how long it took you get this done."

"Hey, I am not the one who's got the Titans all jumpy and paranoid about anyone wanting to associate with them." Rose gave him a disapproving look.

"Things don't always go according to plan, even for me." He replied coolly.

"Miss Rose, who's that?" The little girl whispered.

"Your new master." Slade said before Rose could answer. The little girl raised an eyebrow and gave him a disbelieving look that made her look so much like Raven that Slade almost laughed. He looked back to his daughter. "Where's your suit?"

"Dufflebag behind that tree." Rose jerked her thumb over her shoulder to a large oak. "Gimme a minute."

She pushed the girl away from her and walked off. Slade stood there patiently watching the children, who had backed away from him. The boy looked scared and the girl clutched a little black doll in her arms. She looked terrified, almost as if she might remember-

Wait.

Little black doll?

He looked down at his feet and didn't see the doll from before anywhere. Did the girl retrieve it with her powers? Interesting.

"What powers have you observed them to have?" Slade asked loud enough for his daughter to hear.

But Rose didn't answer.

In fact, it had gotten very, very quiet in the few seconds that Rose had left to change.

His hand slid down to his pistol and he slowly pulled it out of the holster. Normally, he never used firearms when dealing with the Teen Titans. Using firearms meant lethal force and that would draw the attention of the Justice League. He could take several Leaguers at a time, but if they came at him in full force again he would be in trouble. By discarding his guns and sword, he was a bit more under their radar than usual, which is what he wanted.

However, the Titans not-so-recent raid on his bunker had irked him more than a little bit. Not only had they destroyed dozens of his new robots, but the battle had resulted in the deaths of several scientists, the loss of data, and the loss of his two future apprentices.

And on top of that, he still had no idea how they found the bunker.

Needless to say, he wasn't playing nice with them any more.

A bush moved and his pistol automatically came up. He stood and waited at ready until Rose pushed through the shrubbery.

"What took you so long? Why didn't you answer me?" He said as he reholstered his gun.

"It's called a wedgie." Rose grumbled as her hand moved behind her back to make another adjustment.

"Missa Rose, whya look like that guy?" The little boy asked.

Slade looked at him, feeling annoyed with the way the boy spoke. That one would probably have to be dissected.

Rose ignored him. "As for powers, the girl can walk through stuff like Raven can. She's supposedly got Beast Boy's enhanced senses too."

"I see." Slade said, wondering if the girl had more powers she was growing into. It was a pleasing thought. "And the boy?"

"Nothing so far, though Starfire says he should be flying already."

The boy would definitely be dissected to see what went wrong.

"If that's everything then we should-" He stopped as he noticed something slung over Rose's shoulder. "Is that my DP-12?"

"Yup." Rose swung it around for him to see the shotgun. The DP-12 double barrel pump shotgun was hands down his favorite shotgun in his arsenal, both for its modified power and the way it fit just right in his hands. He had no idea that she had it this whole time.

"When did you get that?" He asked. Rose was more of a pistol person than he was, so seeing her with it was genuinely surprising.

"Well, when I left you said I could take any guns I felt I might need." She shrugged. "So I grabbed this, my pistols, and an M16. Oh, and the dragon's breath rounds."

"I see." Slade said, pleased that she had brought a rounded equipment set without his say so. She was getting closer to her old self (before that little red skinned bastard had sweet talked her away from him) as time rolled by. He was glad that his helmet was on so that she couldn't see him smile as he turned away. "Well then, let's get going."

"Sure thing, pops."

Pops. The word echoed in his head. She had almost never called him that before unless it was an undercover call. It was always dad or father or even the rare master. Not pops.

Something was wrong.

As he turned back to her, he saw that he was right. Rose was smiling. It was that dark, twisted smile she got whenever she about to do something messed up. The first time he had seen it was shortly after her mother had abandoned her on his doorstep. Rose had caught a frog and squeezed it to death. She had been so proud of what she had done, so happy, her smile had reached almost ear to ear. The sight had warmed his own twisted heart. He then knew why her mother had said I can't handle her anymore, you take her and left without another word. He would come to discover that his daughter took after him far more than his sons did and it had made him so very proud of her. She had so much promise, so much potential, that he had always given her a bit more leeway than her brothers.

But right here, right now, that smile filled him with dread.

The shotgun BOOMED. The dragons breath rounds, made primarily of magnesium pellets and shards, sparked and ignited in the air. 3000 °F flames engulfed him in an instant.

He was in a massive amount of pain. He could heal this, yes, but it would take days of rest. But because he was in mid turn at the time, a part of him received far less flames than the rest. Namely, one arm and his pistol.

The gun was in his hand as the last bit of flames flew by him. Only scant seconds after Rose fired did she find herself looking down the barrel of her father's pistol.

He didn't know why she shot him and he didn't care at this moment. She was going to die.

It was almost sad.

That's what he thought, at least, because even as he started to squeeze the trigger did something fast and red come down on the gun. He saw the barrel, and his trigger finger, fly away as his mind raced. That was undoubtedly Robin's batarang sword. Robin was attached to it, having come in on Slade's blind side. Something grabbed him by both feet and pulled as something else grabbed his free hand and pulled. Robin kicked at the remains of the gun in his hand, which Slade couldn't move in time because something wrapped around his wrist. A tendril of darkness. The gun flew from his hand, remaining fingers broken in the process. His hand went wide before something grabbed the wrist and pulled. He was now hanging in the air like a large X, hands and feet pulled through dark portals.

Slade was stunned, understandably. In the course of seven seconds, he'd been ambushed and captured. The children were nowhere in sight.

"Why?" He asked, staring at his daughter in disbelief.

"Because I hate you." Rose said coldly.

"You weren't supposed to shoot him." Robin said sternly.

"Couldn't resist." She shrugged.

"You cheated." Slade said to Robin. He couldn't believe what was happening. He'd been ambushed.

"You've been cheating since day one." Robin snorted. "I don't want to hear it."

Slade, very quickly growing very angry, flexed his arms and legs as best as he could. Whoever had ahold of him (he knew it was a person rather than Raven's magic because he could feel their hands) had quite the grip and was pulling him to the max. It was almost like he was being drawn and quartered.

It was bullshit. How did he fall into a trap?

"You sure I can't shoot him again?" Rose asked Robin as she reloaded.

"Why would you want to? We caught him."

"Principle?"

Slade was about to say something scathing to provoke his daughter into attacking him when he was unexpectedly doused in extremely cold water. The sensation of searing hot metal meeting icy liquids was entirely unpleasant, but it only lasted for a few seconds.

"Jesus Christ Raven, really?!" Rose shouted as she jumped back out of the torrent. Only Robin's boots got wet, ironically.

"You need to cool off." Raven said monotonously from above them.

Slade looked up and saw her floating there above a tree. Had she been there the whole time?

"Why Raven, I didn't know you cared." He said mockingly.

"I don't." Raven replied as she floated down. "But I don't particularly like the smell of burnt skin."

He snorted. "Charming as usual, I see."

"Moreso than your entire existence." She retorted. A wave of her hand and Slade heard a series of pops. They came from right below him. He looked down in time to see all his pockets being emptied. Ammo clips, knives, grenades, lock picks, everything was floating away. Raven was thoroughly disarming him, which meant that Rose had given her every tiny piece of information she had on her father.

Angry as he was, he couldn't help but to feel an odd sense of pride. This was a very well planned ambush. He had taught Rose well.

Maybe a little too well.

As he floated there, trapped, burnt, soaked, disarmed, and angry, he began to think. There had to be some way out of this.

He couldn't depend of Brother Blood. The man had likely been caught as well, probably by Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg, whom had yet to make an appearance. The signal device for the base floated by and into Rose's hands, where she disassembled it. The signal device for his robots floated to Robin, where it was turned off and tucked away into a pouch. His robots would return to their safe house and power down. His knives disappeared into portals, going who knows where. His ammo went to Rose. No help, no weapons, no robots, restrained very well…

This was bullshit.

"I do hope you understand things won't be the same when I get out of this." He said, not to antagonize them, but to state the change in their rivalry.

"Good luck with that." Raven snorted.

"We got a special cell, just for you." Robin said with a smile.

Slade has a small flashback to the time Batman caught him and threw him into a very irritating cell in Arkham. He already knew he was headed back to that very cell and it made him even angrier.

What made him the angriest, however, was the fact that there was a click from his helmet.

"Raven." He said. "That's crossing a line you shouldn't cross."

"I'll let you know when I care." She smiled darkly as something else floated into view. A cellphone? "Smile for the birdie."

His helmet was off and floating beside his head as she took the picture. The cellphone disappeared into another portal as Slade glared at her hatefully.

"You're older than I thought." Raven commented.

"Not too old to bend you over a table and put you in your place." He snapped. Immediately following that, three things happened simultaneously.

The first was that Robin and Rose took several steps back.

The second was that Raven's smile disappeared.

The third was that something moved under Raven's dark cloak.

Slade barely jerked his head back in time as a green snake snapped out from under Raven's hood. It was pulled back by hand by the empath herself and gently pushed back to its resting place around her neck.

It took Slade a few seconds, but he recognized that Beast Boy was an inland taipan, the most venomous snake in the world. The venom of said snake was taipoxin, a complex mix of neurotoxins, procoagulants, and myotoxins that could paralyze muscles, inhibit breathing, cause hemorraging in blood vessels and tissues and damage aforementioned muscles by breaking them down.

It was a killing bite, plain and simple.

He'd almost taken that bite to the face.

"You should mind your manners and watch your tongue." Raven said icily. "My boyfriend is a bit cranky right now. I might not be able to stop him next time. Or I just might not attempt to."

Slade eyed the green snake as it rewrapped itself around Raven's neck. He was surprised to hear that the two had entered a relationship already, but what really got him was that Beast Boy attempted to use lethal force on him. The venom wouldn't have killed him because of his healing factor, but it would have hurt like hell and left him very sick for an hour or so. Fighting like that would be damn near impossible. He didn't even know that the boy could do legitimately dangerous creatures. He was, after all, a joke of a superhero.

What had caused this change in demeanor?

"We could cut out his tongue, that would stop him from talking." Rose suggested.

"Stop trying to maim the prisoner!" Robin snapped.

"Can we do it to you first to see if it works?" Raven said to Rose.

Rose just scowled. Slade was seriously wondering how long she'd been in with the Titans. Was she a full fledged member? A trainee? Honorary? Or was she just a traitor who threw her lot in with them because it was convenient?

Robin pulled out his communicator. "Cyborg, report!"

"You called just in time, Rob. We just got Brother Blood." Came the response. Slade ground his teeth in aggravation.

This was bullshit.

They teleported into the Titans Tower garage/basement, which Slade had never actually seen before. It was the one place he'd never found necessary to bug because there wasn't anything of interest down there except the garage. But since that was Cyborg's hangout, it would have been futile to hide surveillance equipment there anyways.

He took stock of the room as they appeared. It looked like a high tech garage, as expected. The only odd thing was the moving truck hanging from a large magnet that looked like it had been hidden in the ceiling. Brother Blood's robots were also stuck to said magnet, all six of them.

Slade looked around, seeing the grinning Cyborg and smirking Jinx (her betrayal months prior had been an unwanted surprise too).

"Where's Brother Blood?" Robin asked.

"Hangin' around." Cyborg laughed.

Robin, Raven, Rose, and Slade all looked straight up to find said villain stuck to a smaller magnet.

"Seriously?" Slade asked, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. A magnet, of all things, brought down the technomancer Brother Blood? Ridiculous.

"Not…a word." Blood said through clenched teeth. He couldn't move his jaw, his face was stuck to the magnet.

"Made it just for you, buddy!" Cyborg laughed again. "Her name's Betty and as you can tell, she's got a magnetic personality!"

Raven groaned as Robin and Rose stepped back to get a better look. Jinx glared at Cyborg.

"It's bad enough when Beast Boy makes bad jokes, don't you start it too!" She snapped.

"How…?" Robin started to ask.

"Made it just for him." Cyborg replied, still giggling a bit. "He and Betty were made for each other. Get it?"

Raven groaned louder and walked away, which caused Slade to follow behind her.

"I swear to God, Stone…" He heard Jinx say as they left the room.

Slade was silent as they walked down the hallway, taking a right after fifteen paces. There was a door, which Raven led them through. Slade raised an eyebrow. The Titans had holding cells in the basement? How un-Titanlike…

His one and only eye went wide as he saw the contents of the rooms. On one side was Starfire, one of his feet and one of his hands in her grasp and standing next to a machine that would hold him just the same. On the other side of the room, however, was someone who was supposed to be dead.

Kid Devil.

Slade was visibly fuming now but he didn't care. How had the boy come back? Neron swore he would remain in Hell for all eternity if Slade killed him. The damned demon had given him a piece of metal enchanted to kill the boy, after all. He had had to painstakingly smelt it down into a bullet and set up an ambush for the little bastard. He knew he killed Eddie because he saw the body disappear. Something must have happened, probably involving that demon in the red suit that hated Neron and Trigon, the one who had given him the Ring of Azar. What was his name again? London?

And if Eddie was alive that meant…

Godsdamnit.

"That didn't take as long as I thought." Rose admitted as she stepped around her father and made her way to Eddie.

"Speak for yourself. Your dad is strong as hell." Eddie huffed as Slade flexed his arm. He really wanted to wrap his hands around the boy's throat.

"Don't be a wuss, Eddie." Rose chided him.

"Why are you soaking wet?"

"Shut up."

Slade stared hatefully at them as he floated into position. Within seconds his hands and feet were transferred to the confines of the machine. The portals aligned with his limbs and disappeared, leaving him very much still drawn and quartered in the air.

This was absolutely bullshit.

The icing on the proverbial cake was that Raven was staring at him. He knew she was an empath, so when she glanced at Rose and Eddie he knew that she knew what he did. In this position, having that information shared would end very badly for him. He had no way to fight back.

She looked back at him and spoke softly with a nasty smile.

"Behave yourself."

Slade stared at her as Brother Blood was carted in, still attached to the magnet. Conversation was made between the Titans, which Slade didn't hear the least bit of because he was already plotting.

Right now wasn't the time for action. If they had gone this far to ambush him, there was no telling who or what they had on standby in case things went wrong. There were just too many variables to account for. It was better to wait and see where this led before he made his escape. The base would probably fall to the Titans but it was an acceptable loss since he had backups of all the data there scattered about the world in other secret bases. Retrieving Wintergreen wouldn't be an issue either. Slade could, and would, wait.

Because one day, he would have his revenge.

And that little purple haired bitch was now at the top of his list.

"That went entirely too smooth." Cyborg said as Slade and Brother Blood were teleported out of the tower by the Justice League.

"Nobody got hurt but Slade, so all's fine in my book." Robin said, feeling more relieved in his life than ever before.

"Shoulda let me-" Rose started to say, but was elbowed by Raven.

"It is finally over." Starfire said happily, taking Robin's hand in her own. He smiled back at her.

"It's never over, but we've got a lot more breathing room now." He said, before looking at Rose. "Also, told you it would work."

"Yeah yeah, Birdboy." Rose rolled her eyes. Robin smirked smugly.

This entire conversation was missed by Raven. She was standing right there with them, but her mind was elsewhere. Namely, on the shapeshifted boy wrapped around her throat.

He's still shaking a little. Knowledge said. He's been trembling for days now and barely been human.

Has he slept? Timid asked fearfully.

Not that I'm aware of, but his human-animal physiology probably makes up for that. There are animals that don't really sleep-

I think it's weird how I like having him squeeze my neck like this. Desire interrupted.

Noted. Rude said dryly. Now let's go somewhere quiet and cuddle my boyfriend before I choke someone.

Raven looked around. She wasn't needed anymore, so she quietly exited the room and put today (especially her dialogue with Slade) out of her mind immediately.

The past few days, on the other hand, had been relatively quiet yet remarkably stressful in a way that couldn't be ignored. They had trained quite a bit with Rose and Eddie, working in their fighting styles (or Eddie's lack thereof) to compliment the Titans. Eddie would be trained in Krav Maga in the future as a stand in until Robin could figure out which fighting style fit him. Rose didn't need any training per say, but she did need experience working on a team. Aside from that, they'd been over forty three different ambush plans and had bickered and fought over each and every one. Then there had been the backup plans and the backup plans of the backup plans…such a headache.

Raven was glad it was over. Everything had been a mess, particularly because she had pushed for the least violent and fastest capture method. She didn't need Garfield going off, public or otherwise. She'd also barely spent any time with Emelia during all this and wanted to get back to being with her adopted daughter. Garfield had been at her side almost the whole time…sort of.

It was Garfield, unfortunately, that had stressed her out the most.

The snake squeeze her neck a little bit tighter as they entered the elevator. She reached up and gently pet her boyfriend on the head. It seemed to calm him a little.

There was something more to his fear than she had initially thought. All the animals he'd been through over the past few days had been predatory. This snake was the smallest of them and a Kodiak bear the largest. She even thought she saw the Beast one night when waking for a moment, his hulking form watching the doorway from the foot of the bed. He hadn't slept once and she was certain he hadn't eaten either.

She had tried, repeatedly, to get him to talk to her, to tell her what he was thinking and how he was feeling (to actually talk about it rather than sulk and brood like he had been doing). Something, anything, would have been better than the near-deafening silence that had gone on between them. She never before thought she'd want to hear Beast Boy's voice so much in her life that it would drive her crazy to not hear him. But it seems she had boarded the crazy train in some form or another regardless.

She reached out with her empathy and located Martin and Emelia in the common room. She knew that Emelia sensed her and was happy that her parents returned unharmed.

Stay up there for now, daddy is still cranky. She telepathy told her adopted child.

Okaaaaay!

She loathed being in this scenario, telling her adopted child to avoid her adopted father because he was in a weird mood. Garfield did not and would not harm her in any way…but Raven really just wanted to be alone with him as much as possible until she could bring him out of this. But…relationships are complicated. She needed outside help.

As she exited the elevator, she sent a telepathic message to Starfire. Star, what's a good way to calm a guy down when he's stressed out?

There was a moment of silence (so to speak) before the alien princess replied. I find that snargling his gothrak works quite well. Other than that, the cuddling always works.

Um…okay?

The act of skas in any form is considered to be the most powerful form of bonding between couples on Tamaran. Starfire informed her. The cuddling tends to be before skas, but not always.

Ah, okay…thank you. Raven replied before cutting the link. She didn't know what snargling or skas was, or even what a gothrak is, but she was willing to bet it was some weird alien ritual. She loved Starfire to death but damn, some of the things she says and does make no sense.

Which meaaannnnttt….

She sighed. Rose? Know any good ways to calm a guy down when he's stressed out?

It was a moment before she replied. What, like a blowjob?

Raven felt her right eye twitch. Any non-sexual suggestions?

Uhhh…titty cuddles?

...what?

Well, it's just cuddling, but he lays his head on your chest instead of you on him.

Raven made a face as the elevator door opened and she stepped through. I wasn't aware that had it's own term. Or that it even needed a term.

I think it's sort of an unofficial thing since we live in a male-dominated society that generally tends to view men that need to be cared for as weak. Raven could almost feel her shrug. But when it boils down to it, guys need cuddles too. Cuddling and hugging literally has a chemical effect on the brain for the feel good emotions. The guys around here probably need them more than others since these blockheads are the 'carry-the-weight-of-the-world-on-my-shoulders' kind of blockheads.

That was probably the most lucid thing you've ever said. Raven thought dryly.

I would titty cuddle you so hard right now that-

Raven cut the link. She wasn't in the mood for Rose's crap right now.

The former assassin chuckled as she felt Raven disappear from her mind. She was in a good mood, having gotten to shoot her father. Oh, and capturing him too. That was good. Although…

"I'm telling you Rob, that went entirely too smooth." Cyborg said. "I mean, seriously, barely a fight out of either one of them! They couldn't have just walked into a trap like that without setting something else up!"

"Agreed." Robin nodded, then looked at Rose. "Any ideas what to expect?"

She thought about it for a moment. "If anything, he's hired local muscle to secure our exit in case things got hot. These guys around here are dumb as hell, so throw enough money at them and they'll do anything."

"Right." Robin turned to Kid Devil next. "Can you make a quick run through the city? Look for anything suspicious."

"Gotcha." Eddie nodded, then gave Rose a kiss before he teleported away. Getting kisses again made her skin crawl, but in a good way. She was starting to remember what feeling happy felt like.

"What about that signal you disassembled?" Cyborg asked her.

"Took this out." Rose said, fishing a microchip out of her pocket. "Tracker. Cracked it so it don't work now."

"Why? We could have used it to trace the signal back to the base."

"Um, hello? I've been there. I can take you any time."

"We should hit it soon then. Very soon." Robin said before pausing in thought. "Is there any way you can drop any defenses? We don't need any near casualties like last time."

"I can make a call and tell them to go dark." She offered. "That'll be about it though, cause if they go on lockdown then you'd need someone like Superman to get through the defenses."

Robin nodded, so she got her phone out and dialed Wintergreen's number. It took a moment for him to answer.

"Rose? What's going on, why are you calling me?" He asked.

"It was a fucking ambush, that's what!" She hissed, playing the part of loyal apprentice once more. "The Titans were waiting for us! Raven dropped a bus on father and bolted with the kids, Cyborg damn near fried me with his cannon. Have you heard from father?"

"What?! No! You lost him?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, Starfire and Beast Boy been on my ass. Shit. Months of undercover work for fucking nothing!"

"How did this happen? How did they know?"

"I heard Robin tell father that 'his source was right on the money'. You know what that means, right?"

"We have a traitor."

"Yup. Gotta be one of those damn eggheads. String'em up and go dark until father or I get back. Then we'll figure out which of them is talking. Gotta be the same prick that got the bunker busted."

"When will that be?"

"Hell if I know. I lost my sword to Starfire's bolts and I'm almost out of ammo, so I ain't going anywhere fast-" She paused and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Shit. It's Beast Boy. Go dark. Oh, and make sure the fillet knives are sharpened, I'm in a really bad mood."

She ended the call.

"Good job." Robin said. "I'll start calling the other Titans. It's time to end this."

"Right behind ya, Rob." Cyborg said, following his leader out.

"I shall go to the children and make sure they are unharmed." Starfire flew out after them, leaving Rose alone with Jinx.

It was awkwardly silent for a moment, seeing as two former villains and former associates of Slade's were officially meeting for the first time.

"Soooo…." Jinx said slowly. "Slade's brat, huh?"

"And you're Sarah Jennifer Simms, the former villain known as Jinx." Rose said, smiling at the immediate discomfort that Jinx now displayed. "What? Didn't think I'd know anything about the one student in the whole Hive Academy that my father considered taking as an apprentice?"

"That is so creepy in so many ways." Jinx shivered.

"You have no idea." Rose said as she walked out. "And honestly? You don't want to know how that would have turned out. I know I damn sure didn't."

Rose made her way to Eddie's room, her new hang out for the past couple of days. She wondered, not for the first time, what was wrong with unusually quiet Beast Boy. Raven had reached out to her for advice and Rose had given what she could, but it still didn't tell her what was wrong with the shapeshifter. He sure was cranky. Maybe Raven really was blueballing him…

Speaking of bluballing…Rose thought to herself as she stepped into a camera blindspot.

One sent message and a teasing picture later, Rose's mood was even better. She'll be getting cuddles too. Naked cuddles. And everybody knows where that leads.

What a beautiful day. She thought to herself as she skipped down the hallway.