Chapter 9

The Titans and honorary Titans had arrived in New York the night before, after a long 2-hour trip in the T-ship starting from the opposite end of the country. It was only long to the Titans because Beast Boy complained the whole time of how badly he had to pee. Since that morning they had all been busy trying to look for leads despite the weather.

Robin sat in the cockpit of the T-ship fiddling with the various Cyborg-personalized equipment. The boy wonder tried to use the limited ship systems as if it were the Titans mainframe back in the tower to search for any news on Mistress or her organization. The T-ship, like all of Cyborg's creations, was state-of-the-art. However, it was built for international and interplanetary flight, not tracking criminals through computers.

Cyborg stood safe from the rain under the T-ship fiddling with exposed circuits and wires along the belly of the ship. He was rerouting power sources and trying to boost the T-ship's computer's reach while installing Wi-Fi so Robin could track Mistress across the internet, too. Beast Boy was excited for the prospect of Youtube.

Speedy and Beast Boy had half-directions from Cheshire to Mistress' team conference room. However, the directions she gave and the roads that existed were two separate matters. The boys divided their time between asking directions and mapping it online. By late afternoon they were still searching, but they had successfully discovered a mall, a giant arcade, a pet shop, and a pizzeria with the most mouth-watering flavors imaginable. When asked what was taking so long, they replied that they had to wait out the rain at all these various locations.

The girls were pulling surveillance, flying in the vicinity of where Cheshire recalled Mistress' underlings traveling to try to spot anyone familiar. Neither minded flying in the light afternoon rain. So far their only known targets were Mammoth, Kyd Wykkyd, and Angel, but they assumed anyone they had crossed paths with during the battle with the Brotherhood could be a possibility.

Currently the two girls were taking a break from flying by resting on the top of a tall department store not too far away from the Hudson River. They scanned the roadways below just as vigilantly as before.

"…And that is how I came to call this planet home," Starfire finished with equal enthusiasm as when she started her tale two hours earlier. Strangely, it had been in answer to Argent's question if Starfire had visited New York City before.

"That's… insightful," Argent said flatly when she noticed the alien was quiet for once. The silver-skinned girl welcomed the foreign silence that followed until it grew almost stifling within the short span of ten minutes.

"So…" she started, hoping she could find a subject that wouldn't send Starfire down another tangent for hours, "your team's been together for a few years now, right? Doesn't it get crazy in the tower?"

"Sometimes the atmosphere becomes confrontational when the boys start seeing the red, but we have become a family over time," Starfire answered sweetly and – to Argent's relief – succinctly.

"You see all the boys kinda like your brothers then?" tested Argent carefully. She broke her gaze away from the darkening streets to study her friend's face.

"Yes, especially when they act so protective of me, despite their complete lack of strength compared to a Tamaranian's," smiled the alien with a laugh. The Titan's antics always made her giggle cheerfully.

"So Robin's not like… anyone special to you or anything, yeh?" the silver-skinned girl continued hopefully. Starfire's eyes immediately narrowed, but her expression melted into a quizzical one. The faintest blush deepened her orange cheeks.

"I—" Starfire's reply was interrupted by Robin's voice over the communicators.

"Titans! Something's attacking a barge in the bay. I'm sending the coordinates now. I don't know if this is related to Mistress or not, but it's worth a look. Robin out."

Argent and Starfire checked the directions before clipping the communicators back onto their belts and taking to the sky, their previous discussion completely forgotten.

.

The sun was practically set and the rain long gone by the time that the penthouse elevator reached the top floor and Slade stepped out. Today he had masqueraded as a dog walker, and climbing seventeen stories was just enough time to fold all the leashes neatly into one giant tangle. Slade tossed the mess into the coat closet as Wintergreen approached.

"I hope you had dinner out, because there's none left."

Slade picked a hanger from the closet and draped his jacket over it, saying, "I'm sorry I missed your excellent cooking, Wintergreen, but come now! Don't be like that; I know you cook for two when I'm around."

"This is true, but tonight I had an unexpected guest. She was looking for you, in fact. A young thing named Raven."

Slade missed the coat rack completely and nearly dropped his hanger. His wide-eyed gaze flashed from Wintergreen to all the closed doors on the wall.

"The poor girl said she had a long day and just wanted to rest a bit. She's been taking a nap on the couch for almost two hours," Wintergreen said, taking the jacket from Slade and hanging it properly. He chuckled, "And here I thought you had grown out of the stage of bringing girls home."

Slade pushed past his friend with an expression devoid of anything even resembling humor. He made absolutely no sound as he stole toward the sitting area. A large doorway took up half a wall and from the other side of the open penthouse Wintergreen's favorite chair and side table could easily be seen. The couch, however, sat with its back against the dividing wall.

Slade peeked half his face into the black room. Even the large sliding glass door to the balcony was hardly any help with a dark sky overlooking an unlit park. Quickly, though, his eyes adjusted and the strange lump on the couch sharpened into a curled up figure covered in a blanket.

Slade found Wintergreen ten steps away in the kitchen area, making a shopping list by the light from above the sink.

"Why did you keep her here? Why didn't you warn me ahead of time?" he hissed, not two inches away from Wintergreen's ear.

The old man turned and studied Slade across his thin glasses before replying not as quietly, "You should have seen it when that girl landed outside the window. Seen how she looked. Felt her." Slade reeled back and almost looked like he would punch his friend. Wintergreen help up a staying hand. "I mean I thought I felt what she was feeling. I was empathizing with her."

"Probably a new trick she's discovered," Slade growled mostly to himself, "gets people to feel the emotions she shouldn't even be feeling." He focused his scowl back on Wintergreen. "Still, she's not a lost kitten—you didn't have to give her a home!"

"She's gone through great lengths to find you. Can you really say anyone else you know would do the same?" Wintergreen capped his pen and folded the list in one neat crease.

"You would, old friend," Slade finally said in a voice slightly louder than a whisper.

"No, not really," he said with a smile. "Remember, when you left for the west coast all those years ago, I stayed here. You crossed the country and found me." He gave Slade's shoulder a pat before heading toward the middle closed door on the opposite wall.

"Don't flatter yourself, Wintergreen," he grunted with a sneer. "I came here on a mission. I found you again because it's convenient."

All he got in reply was a chuckle and a "breaks my heart," before his door shut.

Slade used more force than was necessary shutting off the kitchen sink light. After an annoyed huff he crept into his own room and locked the door.

That feeling was back, Slade noticed now that he was alone with his thoughts. The tingling feeling down his spine that felt like eyes on his back. That warning sign which saved his life countless times as a soldier all those years ago. It was stronger now that Raven was so close. Slade couldn't fathom how it happened, but he felt like they were almost mentally linked. He never let anyone in his head.

.

The six Titans met up on a sidewalk skirting the bay. Even in the darkness of the early night, docked ships were still being loaded, unloaded, docking, setting sail.

"This city really doesn't sleep," commented Cyborg. Not too far in the distance an oceangoing barge sent up a flare. A second later an explosion lit up the deck of the troubled ship.

"All right," piped up Beast Boy. "We haven't gotten to save the day in like… ever!"

"Titans," Robin called with an enthusiasm vacant from his voice for months, "go!" Starfire immediately reached for Cyborg to carry him toward the barge. It was automatic anymore to pair them together when Cyborg needed a lift anywhere. Beast Boy morphed into his trademark pterodactyl and Robin jumped on his shoulders, leaving Argent to carry Speedy across the water on a disk of plasma energy.

On the flight out to sea, Robin's communicator beeped. It was a wonder Robin heard it at all over the flap of Beast Boy's large wings and the perpetual sloshing of the waves below. He tore it from his belt.

"Robin here."

"Hay, it's Bee. We got a li'l problem o'er here. Cheshire's gone… X had a hand in it."

Robin's fist tightened around the device. "Search for leads. If you absolutely can't find anything, join us over here. Robin out."

.

Bee terminated the link from the living room computer in the tower before leaning on the console, head bent. "I shouldn'ta left her alone," she grumbled.

"It's okay. It's not like you knew about this," Aqualad said from the couch. In a moment of perfect timing, Aqualad had arrived from his mission as Bumblebee was still trying to escape from the sticky x-weapon straight jacket. Aqualad easily freed her with the assistance of a passing swordfish. Bee filled her teammate in on the whole situation as she flew upstairs to Cheshire's room, only to find it empty with the curtains fluttering in the open window.

Bumblebee joined Aqualad on the couch, sprawled out nearly as much as him. "We don't actually have cameras in any of the rooms, so I got no way of findin' out how she disappeared or who took her. But we can't leave yet. My girl Jinx needs time to do some reconnaissance for me."

"Do you really think she'll do it?" Aqualad asked with a tilt of his head. "You made it sound like she didn't actually agree to it."

"I think she will. In the meantime, we gotta be keepin' eyes on their old hideout."

.

Starfire and Cyborg reached the ocean barge seconds before the rest, landing on top of the first storage crates they came across. They had a decent enough view of the deck to see most of the crewmates running chaotically. Those running with a purpose were fleeing from two figures breaking into one large crate on the starboard side. These two figures were females, one blond, one black-haired. A few sailors assembled in a bunch near the port railing.

The other four Titans arrived then and Robin jumped onto the deck to slip and slide his way to the railing.

"We saw your flare! What's going on?" he asked the gaggle of sailors.

"We're under attack!" one with a flashlight cried. "We done called the Coast Guard and—" he stole a glance at Robin, "who th'heck're you?" The rest of the team joined him.

"We're the Teen Titans. We're here to help," Robin said.

"Well I don't care if you're Santa Claus at Mardi Gras, if you're gunna help, stop those thieves!"

All six faced the two women who were busy digging boxes out of the steel crate. Suddenly, the blond started tossing the boxes overboard. Speedy and Beast Boy, closest to the starboard side, rushed to the rail and squinted into the dark waters far below.

"I'll cover you," Speedy said, grabbing an arrow from his quiver. Without a word Beast Boy jumped overboard and hit the water as a bottlenose dolphin. Seconds later, a green salmon flopped back on the deck and morphed back into Beast Boy. Before Speedy could say anything, Beast Boy cried, "Guys! There's a mermaid down there!"

.

Raven woke to find the sitting room dark and a blanket up to her shoulders. All she remembered was having tea and a casserole dinner before the excursion of the day caught up with her and Wintergreen generously giving her the opportunity to nap. This was back at five or six that evening.

Raven threw off the blanket, a guilty expression cemented on her face, before hurrying into the open kitchen area. No one was around, but she could sense two bodies in the far rooms. One in particular made her breath catch. Before Raven even realized she was walking, she found herself standing directly in front of the nearest door, hands flat against it. The dark girl closed her eyes and reached out in the same way she had for months when Slade communicated with her on missions. This time, however, no response came. She could sense an overactive mind uncomforted by sleep, but she couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking. Even now in the dead of night his impenetrable wall was up. Raven let her forehead rest on the door.

You know, started Brave, this little bit of wood isn't gonna stop you. You can roundhouse kick right through it.

There's an entrance of champions, said Attitude.

Come on, ladies. We can't just barge in there. Just like we wouldn't want him barging into our room, Timidity added.

Friendly considered this. Well… Timidity scoffed in response.

If he wanted to talk to us, Intelligent started, he wouldn't be behind a locked door.

He could just be locking it because he wants us to come in! argued Happy.

Raven shook her head. Only women think like that. She quickly strained her ears when she thought she heard something shift inside.

Well, y'should prolly think of some course of action, advised Attitude, because it'll look weird if he finds you creeping here talking to yourself. All the other voices agreed Attitude had a point.

Raven backed up a pace when the sounds of movement continued, a gasp catching in her constricted chest; footsteps were headed for the door.

Yes, purred the malicious voice from its prison inside Raven's mind, stand here and demand to know why he's neglected us. Why he left without a word about his whereabouts. Why he decided to leave us after all those months training you to be his apprentice. Apparently he doesn't think that highly of you still. Raven's eyes narrowed at Rage's inclusion. The other emotions told Raven not to listen to her. The dark girl pulled back into the blackest corner of the kitchen and watched as a man in dark civilian clothes and white hair exited Slade's room. The shadows obscured his face and Raven couldn't decipher much more than the style of his hair. The man crossed the floor in Slade's familiar gait to the bathroom.

Curiosity burned through Raven and all her emotions. Rage took this opportunity to pipe up again: Oh, so he takes off the mask when he's not around you. Clearly he trusts Winterfresh a little bit more than you. An argument instantly broke out between half of Raven's emotions and Rage, mainly limited to threats and insults, but also with the occasional "Can't we all just get along?" and "Don't feed the trolls!" thrown in there, too.

Raven tried her hardest to block them all out as she crept forward under the cover of shadow and peered into the spacious bathroom. There was a tiny, dim light emanating from somewhere low along the wall, and it was just enough to show Slade's profile leaning over the sink, faucet running, and face already dripping wet. All of Raven's voices quieted then because, like her, they were all dying to know what he looked like. The girl did not even realize she was still moving until her body hit the doorframe. Barely half her head was leaning over to peer inside.

Slade splashed his face with another handful of water before turning off the faucet and planting his face into a towel. It took him awhile to return the towel to its wall hook. His apprentice was too busy watching him to realize he had started moving… towards her. By the time Slade noticed her dark figure in the deep shadows outside the door, his soldier reflexes took over in startled self-defense and a well-aimed fist flew right for her. Raven's eyes widened and whitened, and she barely had time enough to wave a hand and freeze Slade's arm up to his elbow completely in blackness. His fist was stuck mere inches from her eyes.

"Why are you here?" Slade growled.

"Why did you try to punch me?"

.

"Wait, so they're throwing stuff to a mermaid down there?" Speedy repeated incredulously.

"Yeah! And the mermaid's putting it on a dinky boat down there, but yeah! A mermaid, guys!"

"Get down there and stop her!" Robin shouted before charging forward with the four remaining Titans and cornering the two females against the open crate. The one with short black hair turned around first. She wore dark clothes and a small leather jacket cut perfectly for her. The girl looked oddly familiar.

"Look, this has got nothing to do with you. Just let us be and we'll be out of your hair in two seconds," she explained with the faintest trace of a French accent. The girl with blond curls picked up another box and heaved it overboard, but Starfire flew up and caught it, hovering there over the rail with the box in her arms.

"A… security camera?" she questioned the looters as she read the box.

"Kinda ironic," Cyborg said, earning a snicker from Argent.

"We're the Teen Titans, and justice is kinda our thing," Robin told the thieves. "And since you're breaking the law, we're taking you in." The blond finally turned around and looked Robin up and down. She was in a blue-and-white dress that looked completely out of place in a robbery.

"Wow, you're like the do-gooder prince in fairy tales." Her gaze swept over all of them. "And you all look like you just stepped out of a fairy tale."

"Tease all y'want, you're both under arrest," Cyborg said as one arm morphed into a blue cannon. The girl with black hair smiled.

"Fine, if you arrest the right person." She seemed to shrink as colors popped onto her clothes and a second later, there was Robin standing where the girl had been. All the Titans looked from this new Robin to their team leader, currently standing next to Cyborg.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy patrolled through the dark water as a long, green squid. The next time the mermaid swam close to the barge to retrieve a box, two strong tentacles wrapped around her arms. The mermaid put up a fierce, startled struggle, but Beast Boy continued to reel her closer. He surfaced well within Speedy's range and pulled his detainee with him.

.

Raven released Slade's arm and let him shake the numbness out. Now that he was standing right in front of her she could see his short white hair and matching goatee, a dark eye patch and a hardened face. Even though his hair was shockingly white, his face bore scars instead of wrinkles and looked weathered with experience. He was also scowling like Raven did only under the influence of Rage.

"Why are you here?" Slade repeated slowly, his one eye glaring fiercely. Raven had no cape to hide behind anymore while in her civilian clothes and seemed to bend slightly under his stare.

"I came to find you. I… I was…"

"I remember telling you to stay back in Jump City," he interrupted. Slade seemed to loom over her and appear even more menacing in the dark, open room. "I better not come back to a rotting corpse in the brig."

"She's gone! She was gone before I even came here," replied Raven with narrowing eyes. Rage sniggered from her prison.

"Fantastic, so she's roaming the streets back in the city so she can join back up with her team and informants," Slade huffed. "There's a reason I wanted to keep her locked up!"

"Because she was looking for you on her mistress' orders?" Raven shot back, finally standing at full height when Slade started at her revelation. "Yeah, I found that out on my own, but it would've been nice if someone could've clued me in on that."

"This is not your concern!" barked Slade. Their volume continued to escalate throughout the conversation, so now they were on the verge of shouting.

"Of course it's my concern! You're like the only person I interact with anymore."

Wintergreen shuffled out of his room in a robe and teddy bear slippers, yawning all the way to the kitchen area where he flipped on a light and started filling a pot with water.

"This is a personal matter, Raven, which is why I left you on the other side of the country. If it was anything else, I would have included you."

"Why does it matter if it's a personal matter or not? I can help you regardless! Stop trying to be all super secretive—we're on the same side now!"

"Let her help," Wintergreen piped up. "You weren't exactly doing a fantastic job by yourself." He pulled three cups and saucers out of a cupboard and arranged them on the kitchen island.

"Stay out of this, Wintergreen!" shouted Slade. He turned back to his apprentice to find she was almost in his face. He slipped into his indoor voice. "Tomorrow I want you on your way back to Jump City."

"What? Why can't I help you?" Raven was nearly screaming, eyes severe. Half of her concentration was spent holding her feelings in check, which was quickly becoming a difficult task. "This Mistress seems dangerous and I've fought dangerous people before—"

"This isn't about strength or proving yourself or whatever you think it is. This is a personal matter! You need to accept that and let it be."

"If it's personal for you, that makes it personal to me!"

"We are not a team!" Slade barked. He looked almost ready to strangle someone. "I am ordering you to return to Jump City tomorrow!"

"I know where Mistress is and was already tracking her down! Why are you pushing me away?" Raven's emotions seethed. She was happy she finally found him, the one she had grown so used to over the months, and it felt like things could get back to normal in a strange city now. However, his borderline hostile reaction to meeting her again confused and flustered her. Raven was actually hurt that Slade did not have the same relieved reaction to their encounter that she did. Was she really the only one searching for some sort of stability?

The pot on the stove whistled with boiling water until Wintergreen turned the heat down and filled all three cups.

Slade straightened and half his anger seemed to vanish in one exhale. "What do you mean you know where she is?" Immediately the atmosphere seemed to lighten and Raven did not have to fight so hard to keep her powers under control.

"I don't have an address or anything, but I saw her… I saw her headquarters. And I was hunting it down all today," Raven added, puffing up slightly.

"See?" Wintergreen added as he pushed three steeping cups of tea across the island to corresponding chairs. "You don't even have that, Slade. Let the girl help." Slade cast a warning glance his way and Wintergreen only smiled, "Tea's ready."

Slade looked back at his apprentice, who stared defiantly back. "We'll talk about this in the morning, Raven."

.

The Titans looked from one Robin to the other, but couldn't spot any difference. With a sneer from the shapeshifter, she lunged for the real Robin and tackled him behind several stacked metal crates.

"Oh no y'don't!" shouted Cyborg as he ran after them. Cannon fire followed. The two girls turned their attention to the blond, who ran her fingers through her hair. She flashed a glance in Argent's direction.

"That's a fantastic dress!" the blond bubbled. "Where'd you get it?"

Argent ruffled her skirt. "Oh, it's just something I pieced together—" Suddenly a Robin came hurtling between them and ended up skidding along the deck almost to the rail where Starfire hovered. Cyborg stomped back out from around the crates.

"Yeah! That's what y'get!" The three Titans circled the blond and the twitching Robin until a second Cyborg, suit blackened by enemy fire, staggered into view from behind the crates.

"No! That's… the real Robin!" He stumbled to one knee. Just as the two Titan girls eyed the closer Cyborg in a new light, he fired his arm cannon at both of them. Argent was slammed into the rail and Starfire was knocked overboard, still clutching the camera box.

Speedy, providing cover for Beast Boy, directed the green Titan's attention to Starfire falling into the water, shouting, "Get her!"

The green squid immediately detoured in the direction of his teammate, his prisoner in tow. The mermaid, who had green skin much paler than Beast Boy's, stopped fighting his grasp. Instead, she shook her sandy blond hair out of her face and opened her mouth to sing in a foreign language. It was a sweetly haunting tune that sounded like she was singing underwater. Beast Boy completely stopped what he was doing as if lost in thought and his tentacles slipped away from his hostage. In a flash, she was off for the getaway boat. Speedy would have had the perfect shot if he hadn't similarly been in a daze.

Whatever time it was that the Titans recovered from this spell, it was only the sailors, an approaching Coast Guard ship, and themselves in the vicinity of the barge; the three thieves and their boat were nowhere to be seen. A drenched Starfire flew back onto the deck, carrying Beast Boy from the water.

Robin clung to his aching gut as the others circled around. "I don't know what that was," he grunted, "but we're going to find out. Let's regroup at the T-ship and figure it out in the morning."

Beast Boy forced an excited laugh past his exhausted slump. "So do we have Youtube now?"

a.n. I don't know what to make of this chapter. I edited it the most out of all the chapters I've uploaded so far. What do you all think of it? Any thoughts on why Slade's hunting Mistress? Or who Mistress even is?