The Next Generation

Dark Raven glared down at Neal again. "Your pitiful attempts are beginning to grow tiring." Lifting a hand, she caused a black mass to wrap around his body, squeezing tighter and tighter. "You will be the first to go. May you suffer in the after life, knowing that you failed." She cackled again, smiling widely in delight as her magic squeezed the life out of him.

And then... everything stopped. The shattering heavens ceased their activity and froze, no longer breaking apart. Dark Raven looked up quickly, narrowing her eyes and spinning in concern. What was going on? This world should be breaking apart. And then, a white mass of energy in the form of a raven appeared from the ground and blasted Dark Raven through the air.

A white portal opened up from the ground, and from it emerged another figure. It was Raven, though dressed all in white rather than her traditional dark violet. Even her eyes glowed white. "You have not won yet, father. Your hubris and your arrogance will be your downfall. I defy you, Trigon. As long as I live, you evil shall never conquer!"

Fade had to admit that even he was losing faith at this point, Trigon was growing annoyed with him and he was using Raven's magic to begin to squeezed him to death. It was one of those slow deaths where it felt like every part of his body was about to burst with blood. He felt the pressure, he felt his bones beginning to snap under the pressure, only to have it suddenly disappear out of nowhere.

It was only a few moments later that Fade glanced over to see a Raven dressed completely in white appear. "Now that's what I'm talking about!", Fade said before the magical energy released him and he fell to the ground. He forgot that Trigon might lose his grip after being hit, and so he fell to the ground face first. "Ow......damn it", Fade muttered as he pushed himself up.

He glanced over to the newly appeared Raven who gave her speech about how she would always live to defy Trigon. It was good to see her again, Fade couldn't lie that he was worried that she was gone forever. "Nice of you to listen to me", he said as he pushed himself up on weak legs. He looked over to the spot where Trigon had been launched. "What do you want me to do? He might have broken a few of my bones but my power is still ready to use if you need it"

"You must leave, quickly," Raven said, as the other three suddenly joined their side, now released from Dark Raven's magic. "There isn't much more time; all of you will be trapped here forever if you do not return to the portal. Do not worry about me; Trigon has no more power here. This is my world. No one else's."

"Well you don't have to tell me twice. Just make sure you kick his ass for me, I owe him some broken bones", Fade said before looking towards the others. "Let's get going", he said. He turned away and took a step before stopping himself. He turned back towards Raven once more. "I'll see you when you're done.......I'm glad you're back", he said before turning and running back the direction that they came. Hopefully Zatanna could keep the portal open another minute until they were able to escape.

"I'm glad, too," Raven said, as she raised her arms high. her cloak billowed out and a white aura surrounded her. Dark Raven was just now recovering and looking back. There was fear in her eyes.

---

On the outside world, Zatanna was doing everything she could to keep the portal open. Her nose was bleeding profusely from an overuse of her magic, and just as she felt her hold slipping away, four bodies came flying through the portal. Instantly, she let go and sunk to he ground, allowing the portal to close. Sarah caught her, setting her down gently.

Nightwing took a firm step forward. "What happened? Is everything alright?"

As if on cue, he was answered by a small groan as Raven sat up from the altar, now conscious. She held a hand to her head, muttered something about a headache, and then looked up at all of them. "Everything is fine..." she said. One could swear that she was cracking the slightest of smiles. "He is gone."

As they approached the portal it almost looked like it was flickering, getting smaller like Zatanna was losing her grasp. Right before it closed the four of them quickly leapt through it, crashing onto the ground on the other side. "Owwww", Fade muttered as he pressed himself up with one hand, turning to Nightwing as he asked what had happened. Fade opened his mouth to explain, but cut himself off as he heard movement on the alter.

Fade finally pushed himself to his feet as Raven said that everything was fine and that Trigon was gone. So she had won the fight? It seemed evident, the world had stopped completely shaking altogether now after all. Fade just looked towards her and smiled, giving a nod to her. He had already said how happy he was that she was back, plus she could probably already figure out why he was pleased.

"What about Blood? Did he give you any more trouble while we were gone?", Fade asked.

"Don't worry about Blood," Nightwing said, gesturing to the stable containment field. "He's not going anywhere."

"We'll take him back with us," Zatanna said, referring to herself, the Flash, and Wonder Woman. "The Justice League will deal with him."

Sarah let out a long breath and fell down flat on her behind. "Well. I don't know about everyone else, but I think I've had my fill of adventure for the night. Who's up for pizza and a movie?"

"I second that idea!" Starfire declared excitedly, lifting up Sarah from the ground and swinging her around in a hug. Sarah let out a small yelp, until finally she was set back down on the ground.

"We'll see," Nightwing said. "We still need to check up on Cyborg and Beast Boy. But perhaps... there might be time left tonight. Titans, let's move."

And on that note, the team exited back through the abandoned subway station up to the surface again, a job well done. As they moved into line, Raven appeared next to Neal, leaning in close so only he could hear her.

"I want to thank you..." she whispered. "I had given up on myself for a while there. But you... you never did."

Fade looked as the containment field was still holding onto Blood. Good, now that freak could get locked up by some of the most powerful heroes in the world. He might have been strong to the Titans, but the Justice League would make him regret ever going against any of them. He hoped that he never broke out of wherever they put him.

As the idea of a movie and food was brought up Fade couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, sitting down definitely sounds like a good idea. I could use a few days without being crushed to death by someone", he said jokingly before hearing that they needed to check up on Cyborg and Beast Boy. Oh yeah, Fade had completely forgotten about them. He hoped they were still alright, and that Cyborg hadn't shut himself down or anything like that.

As they moved away he glanced his head over to listen to Raven as she spoke so that only he could hear him. Her words made him smile, as he knew that something like that from Raven was extremely sincere and heart felt. "You don't need to thank me, You would have done the same thing for me. We're friends after all, and in truth I couldn't let myself believe that you were really gone. I didn't just want you to come back, I needed you to come back", he said as he looked right at her. "Thank you for saving my life by the way, a minute later and he surely would have crushed me into a ball"

Raven nodded, the slightest of smiles still on her face. Even the small smirk was a large statement of emotion for someone like her. "Your words are kind," she said, holding a hand briefly against his arm. Just as soon as her fingers brushed against him, though, they were gone, and she was walking ahead of him again. She stopped a second later though and looked back. "We can meditate together later, if you wish."

For someone like Raven, any sign of emotion was a pretty big deal. Especially the positive ones though, Fade wasn't even sure if he'd seen her smile once since he had met her. Granted he had seen her happy, but she didn't display it the same way as everyone else did. She was always genuine though, and it was one of the things that he liked most about her. Fade gave one more nod as she said how his words were kind, feeling her hand as she brushed up against him.

He heard her request and gave a single nod and smile. "Yes, I think that I would enjoy that greatly Raven. I will be there whenever you are ready"

"Hey, you hear something?" the security guard asked to his partner. He switched on his flashlight and pointed it down the long hallway. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Probably just some rats, man," the other guard said, with a small yawn.

The first security guard glanced back at him. "Oh come on. Ain't rats. Ain't never rats. I'm gonna go check it out."

"You do that," the second said, taking out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. "I'll be right here."

The first security guard headed off down the dark corridor, dim moonlight coming in from the tall windows. The displays on either side of him cast eerie shadows on the walls. He never could get used to working in a museum late at night. Half the time he came around a corner, he thought something was going to jump out at him.

"Someone there?" he called out, as he ended up in the Egyptian section. He thought he saw movement near the back and shined his flashlight in that direction. Nothing. "Hello?"

He moved farther inside, looking carefully in every corner of the room. When he neared the back of the display area, the entire room began to shake, causing him to look around in shock. "What the hell?"

And then, all the glass display cases shattered, causing the alarms to sound. A shockwave ripped through the room, knocking him from his feet, and blasting the displays apart, scattering them across the room. A large vase struck him in the back of his head, sending him straight to the ground, loopy.

"Ugh..." he muttered, looking up lazily just in time to see a dark figure walking forward and reaching down to grab a large golden staff that had been a part of one of the displays. A moment later, he blacked out, unconscious.

---

It was a couple months later now in Titans Tower, and everything was business as usual. The group had been busting up crime throughout the city same as always, and ever since the Brother Blood incident, they hadn't run into anything out of their ability to handle in more than a couple of hours. Sarah and Neal had since settled into their roles rather nicely, their abilities growing even stronger with constant training and practice.

That morning, Sarah let out a long yawn as she slowly awoke, sunlight streaming in through her window. "Mmm... I don't want to get up," she mumbled.

Of course, Starfire would have none of that. The Tamaranian was already throwing the blankets off the both of them. "Rise and shine, Sarah! It is a glorious new day!"

Sarah yawned again and reluctantly sat up, stretching her arms out. She looked down, taking a moment to glance over her body. Though she'd always been attractive and had a nice figure, ever since joining the Titans, she was more fit than ever. She didn't have an ounce of excess fat left on her, and her muscle was toned to near perfection. She was actually quite proud of how sculpted she'd managed to make her rear end, too. That was one part of her she'd always had problems with... but not anymore.

"Where did you put my clothes last night?" she asked, letting out another small yawn.

Starfire knelt up on the bed, holding a finger to her chin and thinking, while looking around the room. "Um... I do not remember... I can go find you something suitable, though."

"Meh," Sarah remarked, standing up and stretching out her back. Gosh it was chilly in Starfire's room. Of course, that could be because she was naked, but still. "I'll worry about it after we shower."

"Very good!" the equally naked Tamaranian declared with a smile. "Let us take a nice hot shower to prepare for the day!"

The months passed by without any major incident, something that Fade was personally happy for. He felt bad enough going through the Faust issue after having lost so many souls to him. Still, he was dead now, Brother Blood was in a prison that he might never escape from, and Trigon seemed to be gone forever. Things were looking up, Fade kept at his meditation and training and he was in better shape than he had ever been. He had always been decent, but never good enough to show off. Now though, he was in the best shape of his life.

Raven had told him about Nightwing's suspicion about his ability to learn and memorize due to his increased brain function. It was something that he had definitely put to good use. In his free time when he wasn't training or meditating a large part of his time had been spent watching various fighting styles, trying to learn as much as he could. After months of training his body was in a good enough condition to begin learning such things. It was a good use of his time, and one that he enjoyed doing.

Fade and Raven had continued to become better friends since the Trigon incident. Fade couldn't swear on it, but he still thought that he saw Raven smiling more often. It only lasted for a second, but he was almost certain that he caught glimpses of it happening. They spent more and more time meditating together, Raven continuing to help Fade train his mind to cast all sorts of illusions. They were even getting to the point where Fade could convince people that pain was real even when nothing actually happened to them. It was a skill that he was becoming more and more proud of.

This particular morning though, he had decided to take a day off of training and just relax. No serious crimes had taken place that required the Titan's attention, so they had all just been going about their business. This morning Fade had woken up early to watch more videos of people fighting, trying to mimic their moves in the living room where he had the most space to work. He wasn't in uniform, rather just a simple work out set of clothes. No point in sweating in his suit when he didn't have to after all.

He had finished his training though and set to making some breakfast. He had also been watching some cooking shows in his spare time, so he was learning how to make more food rather than just getting take out all the time. He was busy making some waffles, toast, sausage, pancakes, hashbrowns, and basically anything else that anyone would want for breakfast. Hey, he was even making some specialized tofu options for Beast Boy.

"Something smells most marvelous," Starfire said, as she and Sarah walked into the kitchen area. They were both fresh out of the shower, hair even still a little wet. At least they were dressed, though.

"I didn't know you cooked," Sarah said, sitting at the counter in the middle of the cooking area. "Smells great."

Starfire clapped her hands together and smiled widely. "Nothing better than a big breakfast after a long, tiring, night to get one's energy back."

Beast Boy, who was also sitting at the counter and reading a magazine, glanced up with a puzzled look. "Long, tiring night? But we didn't do anything last night..."

"Oh, not you!" Starfire declared. "But Sarah and I-mmpph!"

Sarah's hand quickly clapped over Starfire's mouth. "Um, it's nothing, she doesn't mean anything. Go back to your magazine." She then leaned in close to Starfire and whispered, "Kori, what did we talk about last night?"

"Privacy... is sacred," Starfire said out loud, glancing up absently, as if thinking deeply about it. "Oh yes, I forgot about that. I will remember next time."

Beast Boy just stared dumbly back at the two of them, then glanced over at neal and shrugged.

Fade glanced up as Sarah and Starfire entered into the living room area. It was obvious the two had just showered, as that was basically the first thing that they did every morning together. He just smiled as he heard Sarah's comment. "Well let's just say I've been doing a bit of learning in my spare time", he said with a smile as he flipped over a few pancakes that were the perfect golden-brown that they needed to be.

Of course, the conversation that followed caused Fade to stop what he was doing and listen for a moment. Long and tiring night? What the hell were those two talking about? What had they been doing that needed to be kept private from everyone else? Fade returned the glanced towards Beast Boy and gave a shrug of his own. It was obvious that they weren't going to get anything from asking.......at least not while Sarah was around.

"Well, I made plenty for everyone so eat what you will, I'd hurry before Cyborg shows up to wolf everything down", Fade said jokingly. The dude had an appetite after all, he could eat anything if sitting down and given enough time. It was like he was a machine or something!

"You know, now that you three are here we really should have that rematch again", Fade said as he glanced to Beast Boy and Starfire. "You two beat us up our first few days here, but I think you'd find that we aren't anywhere near as weak anymore", he said with a laugh. Beast Boy had nearly broken Fade's back the first time they fought, he couldn't help but want to give a little bit of payback.

"Save until after we've eaten," Beast Boy mentioned with a yawn. With a smirk, he added, "Too early for sparring. But after that, I'd be happy to knock you around a little bit more."

"I would be most willing to do that as well," Starfire said with a smile and a clap. "After we have eaten, of course."

But someone else would interrupt their desires to do some sparring. Nightwing came in through the door in a hurry. "No time for that," he said. "Just received an urgent alert. Last night, someone broke into the Natural History Museum, tore the place apart."

Beast Boy scratched his chin and yawned again. "And the police can't handle a simple break in?"

Nightwing stared back at him. "Not when the person who broke in took down a brick wall with his bare hands."

"Sounds fair, and we'll see who does the knocking around. You won't be able to hit me as easily as you did last time", Fade said with a grin before leaning down to scoop out some eggs for himself. He was just about to take a bite to eat when Nightwing ran in.

"His bare hands? Geez who are we dealing with, Bane or something?", Fade asked before putting down his plate. "I'll go suit up and meet you back here", he said before taking off. He quickly ran to his room and changed, making sure that he had everything including some of his gadgets before taking off back to the living room.

"Alright I'm all good", he said as he arriving at the room where they always gathered before heading out. "So you mentioned that there was a break in, so are we just going to be looking for some clues as to who did this?", Fade asked curiously before another thought reached his mind. "Speaking of which, do we know what was stolen?"

"Look for clues, question the witnesses, view security footage, things like that," Nightwing said, pulling up information on the giant computer screen. The other Titans had already all gathered, geared up for action. "Hopefully we can get a lead on who we're dealing with, and their M.O. As for what was stolen..." Clicking a button, he brought up the image of a long, golden staff, embroidered with hieroglyphics and encrusted with jewels. "It's called the Staff of Osiris, the Egyptian God of the Dead. It was discovered buried in a pharaoh's tomb some sixty years ago in Egypt, though I haven't a clue if it's the death god's actual staff, or just some fancy walking stick the pharaoh used. Either way, it's priceless."

"Seems odd..." Sarah muttered, staring at the staff on the screen. "Whoever stole this wasn't after money, or else it would have made much more sense to rob a bank than a museum. And if that's the only thing that he stole, then he must have known exactly what he was after, meaning it wasn't a random break in."

Nightwing nodded. "Which means whoever the thief is had a very specific reason for taking it, a reason we're going to find out."

"And with some dude capable of what he pulled at the museum, you know that it ain't a simple reason," Cyborg added. "I doubt we're dealing with someone with an extreme fascination of Egyptian artifacts."

"Either way, we're on the job, so let's get a move on," Nightwing said, turning the computer off. "Starfire, Beast Boy, Nova, you're with me. We're going to question the witnesses down a the station. Raven, Fade, Cyborg, you search for clues at the museum and view the security footage. See what you can find out."

"Got ya, just wanted to make sure I knew what I was going for", Fade said with the tiniest of chuckles before he allowed Nightwing to continue uninterrupted. Fade narrowed his eyes as the staff appeared, hearing that it was the Staff of Osiris, Egyptian God of the Dead. Fade glanced off to the side for a moment. Wasn't Anubis the God of the Dead, or was it really Osiris? He shook his head and shrug, he was certain that Nightwing's information was far more accurate than his own. Perhaps Anubis was God of the Underworld, or something like that.

Fade glanced over to Cyborg. "Or maybe we are and this dude was merely a hired gun. I guess we'll have to see and find out", Fade said as he crossed his arms before giving his attention back to Nightwing. He was dividing them up into teams, Cyborg, Raven, and Fade would look for clues and check out the security footage for anything strange. It was what he'd rather do anyway, working with Raven was always something that he enjoyed doing.

"Well, no sense in waiting while clues start deteriorating", Fade with jokingly as he pushed himself off of the counter that he was leaning on. "So how we getting there today, portal again or perhaps the bus?", he asked with a laugh.

And before anyone could answer his question, the three were engulfed in a portal that brought them right inside the museum. "I don't like the bus," Raven said plainly, looking around. They were standing in the middle of the Egyptian section, where all the displays were strewn about, glass shattered and priceless artifacts broken. The entire room was lined with yellow police tape. It looked like a tornado hit the place.

"Damn," Cyborg said, flipping up the panel on his arm. His robotic eye started to glow too. "Someone really wanted to get in here. "Alright... I'll start scanning the place for clues. You two go see what you can find out on the security footage. I think the security room is down the east hall."

"Let's go," Raven said, walking calmly down said hall. The security room was indeed there, on the left. She opened the door and headed inside, flipping the lights on long enough to get situated at the control panel. When she had to controls, she asked Fade to hit the lights back off. "According to the police reports, the break in occurred at approximately two-thirty-two in the morning. If we play all footage from all screens starting at about a half hour before, we should be able to find something."

Of course, there were dozens of screens, which meant they'd be watching hours and hours of footage. A long, tedious, boring job, but one that had to be done.

---

"And you said everything in the room just suddenly flew everywhere?" Sarah asked, taking notes on a pad of paper. One of the security guards present the previous night sat across from her, and Starfire sat next to her. Nightwing and Beast Boy were busy questioning the other witness.

The security guard nodded. "Uh huh. Like I told the cops, the whole room just... I don't know, it like exploded or something. Something hit me hard in the back of the head, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground. I looked up and saw the guy just before I blacked out."

"And this man," Starfire said, tapping her fingers. "Did you get a good look at his features? Can you tell us what he looked like?"

"Uh..." the security guard started, thinking hard. "No... no nothing much. It was dark, and I dropped my flashlight. I couldn't make much out. He was big though, real fit... like a body builder or something, or an athlete. In real good shape, you know?"

Sarah tapped her pencil against the pad of paper. "You could tell how buff he was under his clothes?"

"Well, yeah. Er, I mean his clothes... well they were really tight, like spandex or something," the guard said. "Only... didn't quite look as cheesy as spandex. Form fitting, you know? Like the stuff you heroes like wear. Was mostly black, though... there might have been some yellow or something, I can't remember."

"And did he say anything of note?" Starfire asked. "Anything at all? Did you hear his voice?"

"Um... well, there was one thing." The security guard rubbed the bump on the back of his head, thinking. "He yelled it out right when everything went to hell. It was... oh what was it? I don't know, I think it was like... a magic word or something. Like, what a magician would say when he does a trick. A funny word... kind of snappy..."

Sarah blinked in curiosity. "Um... abra kadabra?"

"No, that's not it..." the security guard said. "Badam? Kazah? Kazam? No... it's right on the tip of my tongue... oh! I think it was... shazam. Yeah, that was it. He shouted out 'Shazam'."

Fade just smiled as the portal dropped them right off at the museum. "Yeah I know what you mean, absolutely no sense of style on a bus", he said as he glanced over once at Raven before turning his full attention towards the room that had been destroyed. Wow, this place definitely looked like a storm just made its way through it. Everything was torn apart and destroyed. Why would the place need to be wrecked this badly if the thief was only after one simple staff?

"Alright, you contact us if you find anything first though", Fade said before quickly turning and following Raven down to the security room. There several TV screens, all showing various parts of the museum from different angels. Unless the guy could turn invisible surely something would show up on these cameras. Fade waited until Raven got situated before shutting the lights off, taking a seat next to her as he looked at the right half of the screens.

And there they sat and waited, watching the screens and waiting for something to happen. They set it to half an hour before hand, but with how many screens there were it was like watching hours of footage at once. "Do you really think he'll show up on here? I mean who robs a place like this when there are cameras everywhere to capture his image?", Fade questioned as he glanced at Raven for a second before turning back to the screens.

"Someone who does not care about hiding his identity," Raven replied, watching the screens carefully. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, folding her hands. They had a long day ahead of them, unless they got lucky and found something on the first couple of cameras. It would have gone much faster if they had been able to see anything from the cameras in the Egypt display area, but none of the angles showed anything informative, so they were forced to watch the others.

Eventually, they came to one of the cameras in the back of the museum. About fifteen minutes before the hubbub in the Egypt section, a figure appeared in the screen, walking through the shadows. "There," Raven said, freezing the screen. She resized the image, getting a close up on the figure. Though slightly obscured by shadows, they could get a decent look at him. He looked like any normal civilian in street clothes, nothing that would indicate immense power.

The man disappeared off screen a second later, and raven fast forward until after the break in. Eventually, the figure reappeared on the same screen, about twenty minutes later. Only, it was a different person. It had to be. He was no longer dressed in the clothes he had before, and he was larger, buffer. He never turned towards the camera on his way out, though, so they couldn't get much more than that. They did, however, watch as the man stopped in the middle of the screen, and then suddenly flew off into the sky like a rocket.

"We must report this," Raven said. "Perhaps Cyborg has found something that we can use to piece this together."

---

Nightwing stared at Sarah. "You're sure that's what he said? Shazam?"

Sarah nodded. "He seemed rather certain about it. Why? Is that significant."

Turning from her, Nightwing gave his communicator a long look. "It might be... but we should wait to hear from the others before jumping to conclusions." As if on cue, his communicator suddenly went off. Flipping it open, he pressed the button and listened. Cyborg was on the other line.

"We got some interesting news," Cyborg said. "Security footage shows one man entering into the museum, but a different one leaving. The second man at the end is the one we're looking for, though. He punched through a brick wall and flew off with the staff. In the Egypt section, I was able to analyze the way the debris was scattered, as if surrounding a central impact point. The floor was charred around that impact point, almost as if hit by a miniature lightning bolt or something. So, either these two guys are working together, or-"

"Or they're the same person," Nightwing uttered. "Thanks Cyborg. Rendezvous back at the tower." He flipped the communicator shut and let out a quiet sigh. "Shit."

"Fair point", Fade said as he turned back to the cameras and continued to watch. Fade didn't want to complain, watching and waiting was part of the job today but it was still boring as hell. After getting his powers Fade had to admit that he enjoyed fighting and protecting people, but analyzing a camera for hours wasn't something that he expected would happen. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait that long for something to eventually happen here.

Fade snapped his attention to the camera that Raven had pointed to and enlarged, watching as some guy just made his way through the museum. Obviously in this world they couldn't just judge my appearance, but he definitely didn't look like the kind of guy that was capable of punching through a wall like it was nothing. Still, perhaps there was more to it than they could see.

Fade continued to watch as the man temporarily disappeared. He waited for Raven to fast forward, now showing that a different man was leaving from the museum. "Interesting", he said as he pondered what on earth something like this could really mean. Either that first guy got ambushed by this larger guy......or was this a part of his power? "It looks like they made the right decision in calling us on this one, this is definitely more up our alley of expertise," Fade admitted as he looked towards Raven.

----

After Raven reported to Cyborg, who in turn reported to Nightwing, they were off back towards the tower so that they could reassemble and come up with a plan. The guy took off flying, so they had no real way of tracking him quite yet. "I'm going to guess that there's no way this is someone you've fought before is it?", Fade asked curiously as he looked towards Raven. "What do you think is really going on here?"

"I'm not certain," Raven said, half in deep though as they sat together in the main living area of the tower. Cyborg was busy at the computer going over notes he took at the scene. The others had not yet arrived. "He did not look familiar, but there's no way to know for sure, not until we determine who exactly we're dealing with."

The others arrived shortly after, coming through the door one by one, and headed over to the couches. Nightwing went to the computer with Cyborg, while Beast Boy plopped himself down on one end of one of the couches, and Starfire pulled Sarah down into her lap at the other end. They watched Nightwing and Cyborg converse quietly for a while, comparing notes and trying to come up with a conclusion.

"So, do we have any leads or not?" Beast Boy asked, yawning a little.

Eventually, Nightwing stood straighter and looked back at the others. "...Not yet," he said, then turning to leave the room. "We'll have to look into it more later." When he was out of the room, he headed straight to the security room, where he could use the back up communicator to make a call. He had to wait several minutes before he received an answer, and the voice on the other end wasn't too thrilled.

"This is a secure line," the voice said. "Only members of the Justice League are allowed to use it, and only for dire emergencies. You have five seconds to explain who you are and how you acquired this signal."

Nightwing took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Hey, Bruce... it's me."

There was a brief pause. "Dick?"

"Yeah," he said. "Listen, I need to pass a message along to the League. We have a situation down here, and I'm not sure if we're equipped to deal with it. I know you're busy handling other things, but we're going to need help."

Fade gave a nod as it looked like Raven was still in deep thought about what it was they were dealing with. The guy could fly, but of course that only eliminated so many suspects. Still the guy didn't look familiar it seemed, at least not to Fade or Raven. "Alright, well we'll just keep working at it and figure it out I suppose. Like we always do", he said before turning to watch as everyone else eventually arrived.

Beast Boy, Starfire, and Sarah all moved to sit on the couch while Nightwing and Cyborg spoke on the computer and worked together to try to figure out what exactly they were dealing with. It seemed like they were really trying to come up with something, but it also sounded like no one had any idea what they were dealing with.

Fade watched as Nightwing eventually left after saying that they had no leads. Fade glanced up towards the ceiling, wondering what exactly they were supposed to do now. they couldn't just wait for this guy to steal something else that was priceless after all. "So what exactly are we supposed to do now?", he asked as he glanced around at everyone. "Just wait until we figure something out?"

"So it appears," Raven said, watching as Nightwing left the room. She could sense that he was hiding something, but did not know what. There were only few instances when Nightwing would hide something from the rest of the group, normally when he knew something could greatly threaten his friends. Whatever they were dealing with, it was almost certainly something well beyond what they were normally used to. Even so, they could not allow this person to continue going around hurting people and stealing priceless artifacts, no matter what his reasoning. She would have to talk to him about it later.

Just then, a cell phone went off. Sarah leaped off Starfire's lap and went for the kitchen counter, where she'd left her phone. Flipping it on, she held it up to her ear and smiled. "Hey, mom! How's things? Uh huh. Oh, great. Yup, everything's fine here. Couldn't be happier. Mhm. Er... huh? You're doing what?!"