Titans TODAY!

Blue eyes stared back at him as he stood in front of the mirror, leaning on the edge of the sink. A water droplet was collecting on his chin and the tip of his nose as he watched. Robin. He was Robin. It was so simple. He was who he was. But when he thought about it, who was he? He was a fighter of crime. He was a warrior, a detective, an inventor... he was everything he set his mind to and then some. He had Bruce to thank for that... unfortunately. It always came back to Wayne.

He reached for the towel hanging on the bar next to the sink and dried his face, draping it over the bar again lazily after he was done. He walked out of the bathroom and across his quarters toward the half-circle desk standing there in front of the windows, its right side facing them. He took his seat, looking out at the setting sun and the skyline of Jump with frown lining his lips. After a moment, he tapped a control on the desk's surface and the windows became dark, opaque as though they were made of some smooth black metal. He then cast his gaze across the room at the alcove on the wall where his gear adorned a mannequin. The eyes of his mask stared at him blankly. It was like looking in the mirror again... only instead of seeing someone he barely knew, he saw every mistake he'd ever made in those scuffed armor plates and that tarnished R. He heaved a sigh. It was another day on the job, another sleepless day on the job.

"Richard..." he hissed to himself as he rotated around in that fine, high-backed leather office chair of his. "Richard John Grayson, that's who you are. Another man with a mask..."

Starfire ran her fingers through the thickness of her damp hair and sighed. Silence, save for the drip! drip! of the co-unit showers, wedged itself between her brooding and the walls of the bathrooms. For a moment, she leaned forward over the sink and wiped away the fog from the mirror and just allowed herself to stare. The reflection looking back at her was smudged somewhat, but the princess couldn't bring herself to care. Instead, she breathed out an exhausted puff of air and turned on her heels, snapping excess water from her lengthy hair like a crack of a whip and left.

Swish!

Her footfalls were silent as she ghosted across her carpeted floors. Starfire hovered a few inches from the ground and reached up to depart the drapes of her windows. With one hand she slid one of the glass planes open and closed her eyes. The wind, even though it was chilled, was more than refreshing. The budding rays of a sleeping sun awakening aroused her fatigue and she felt her raw energy within her tingle. Spreading her fingers out slowly, Starfire lifted her arms and allowed herself the luxury of soaking in the rays of the first morning sun.

"Glorious." She murmured in ecstasy.

A slight gurgle startled her from her routine and the princess jumped. A quarter turn with downcast eyes immediately cut her lips into a smile. Emerald eyes rested on a chubby baby insect of some sort whom had taken a delight in wriggling around in a fit of chirps.
Starfire giggled. "Good morning Silkie!" She whispered and gathered the infant moth larvae into her arms. Silkie gurgled happily in return and pecked his caretaker on the nose, clearly enjoying his private attention.

"Have you been good my little bumgorf?" Gurgle. "Indeed you have! The sun has not come up yet, but I know that you are indeed hungry. Let us go down to the kitchen and fix you something, yes? Hahahaha!" Starfire burst into a fit of giggles while Silkie scrambled his stubby little legs all over her arms and shoulders. "I will take that as a yes!" Now only down to a chuckle, she set him down gingerly and floated over to her closet and began perusing for an outfit for the day. After much consideration, the princess settled on a simple fitted tee and a pair of dark denim jeans. Allowing her hair to air dry, Starfire slipped her towel to the floor and readied herself for the day; personal demons and worries forgotten.

ooOOoo

"Aaah....say Aaah Silkie. No! Bad Silkie, do not eat the table cloth! X'Hal, you are being most insufferable this morning."

Raven breathed in the smell of the scented candles, her eyes closed, focusing on her own heartbeat.

In order to control your powers, you must control yourself...

Raven was sitting cross legged on the black carpet of her room, enjoying the silence and the darkness as she meditated.

In order to control who you are, you need to control your emotions...

"Control my emotions..." she muttered absent mindedly, lost in her own thoughts. This was the few momments of inner peace Raven had, when she was alone. Her whole body was relaxed, she could breathe easy in her little refuge. The pale girl liked her own company better then being around most people, mainly because that was the way she had lived most of her life. Once she was finished meditating, she would start her day, calm and refreshed...

"Aaah....say Aaah Silkie. No! Bad Silkie, do not eat the table cloth! X'Hal, you are being most insufferable this morning."

CRASH.

Raven flinched as her comfortable stillness was broken by none other then Starfire, who was scolding her pet a few rooms away. 'Everything good must come to an end I guess...' she thought, blowing a strand of jet black hair from her face. Raven sighed as she unraveled her long legs and stood up, she could no longer concentrate once her train of thought had been broken. With a wave of her hand the candles that lit the otherwise dim room died, The smoke lingering before disolving into the gloom, leaving her room in complete and utter darkness. Already dressed in a plain, deep purple shirt and black jeans Raven skulked off to the kitchen in serch of her morning cup of herbal tea.

And so it begins...

Dick descended the stairs, his mind roaming about a full range of things. No less than a hundred requests for assistance throughout Jump had been registered by the central computer that week. They'd dealt with the worst of it all already. However, there was still an uncanny number of major criminals loosing their particular brand of chaos on Jump City. It wasn't going to be a simple task to do it all. Frankly, they really needed to get it done. The tower needed upgrades and in order to do that, they needed to collect their bounties from the city. It was an unfortunate down side that was hardly exclusive to them -- even heroes had to pay the bills.

When he arrived in the kitchen, he didn't immediately take notice of the situation playing out. So long as it wasn't an all out enemy attack on Titan Tower, he didn't have attention to spare for what was going on between Star and Raven and...

"SILKIE!" he growled angrily, bristling indignantly. "Star! How many times have I told you to keep that animal... bug? Whatever! How many times have I told you that he's not allowed in the kitchen?! This is where all our food is prepared! Restaurant standards! Come on! O-OH! COME OOON!" he continued, spotting the table cloth. "The linens? Really? I mean... These... These are expensive, these table cloths!"

Silkie burbled something in his own infantile language and marched around the top of the counter in a tight, contented circles. The plate, half bitten of course along with more than fifty percent of the table cloth, was licked clean. He plopped down against the cool metal surface and made a noise, eyeing Starfire with much satiated satisfaction in his dark little eyes. However the steely emerald glare forced him to shrink back in fear a bit, his master was clearly not pleased.

"uSilki....." Starfire pushed in her chair and rose to her full height,lips drawn in disapproval, "Anet uSilki? Nau, oojnit narkek!" Her tone was hushed and concise, the sharpness mirroring her expression. She pointed firmly to the destroyed items and crossed her arms over her chest. 'You know better Silkie!' The infant larvae's antennae drooped and he whimpered.

"SILKIE!"

And then proceeded to wet himself.

Starfire paced over to a row of lower cabinets and fished out some of the Tower's usual cleaning supplies. Not even thinking, she furiously cleaned up the mess he'd left behind with so much concentration and vigor that it was gone soon after it came. It was only after she heard Silkie yelp again did she take notice of Robin hollering at the top of his lungs. Again. Starfire collected Silkie into a protective embrace and sighed mentally, when Dick was like this there was just no talking to him.

"Approximately sixty times. And greetings to you as well, Robin." She recounted, slightly weary. Silkie trembled and turned away from Robin, hiding his face in the crook of Starfire's arm. "My most apologies Robin. I will replace them when Cyborg and I do the routine shopping this weekend." A faint spike of excitement sparked within her and her lips twitched slightly. Ever since she'd crash landed on Earth, Starfire had wanted nothing more than to exhaust all knowledge about earthen culture on the planet. Unlike her sister Blackfire, it was much harder for her to assimilate into Earth and, thanks to her own conclusions (and the support of some of her teammates along with Green Lantern of course) she decided that she did not want to change who she was. In fact, she couldn't.

The doors to the common room swished open and her eyes flitted over to the stairwell.
"Dude, Robin. Wanna chill much? Star said she was sorry; just cuz you have your panties in a bunch doesn't mean you have to take it out on her." The changeling yawned and stumbled into the refridgerator. He carted his previous made tofu, a jug of orange juice and pre-made waffle batter to the counter and magically donned a chef's hat. Glancing up at Starfire, his boyish grin reached his eyes and his ears twitched. "G'morning Star!"

"Greetings Beastboy!" Starfire giggled. Setting Silkie down on the floor, she exploited her brief joy and floated over toward the sinks to wash her hands. Afterward, she joined Beastboy behind the counter and found her own chef's hat. That was the moment the doors swished open once again. Both Titans looked up and waved their utensils in the air, figuratively sweeping away the tension that had started to grow thick in the room.

"Aw heck naw! Grass Stain's makin' breakfast today?"
"Shutup Cy! You guys are gettin' waffles anyway.......Mornin' Raven!'
"Like heck we are, cuz you ain't cookin'. Move out the way, move! lookin' good princess, wanna help me make some bangin' breakfast today? Yo Rob. Heya Raven."
Blush. "A well morning to you too Cy, and I would be most delighted. Though I think Beastboy is rather upset that you..'jacked him' for his spot. Raven! Greetings!"
"Duuuude! MOVE!"
"Grass stain'll be alri-I said no!"

As the half demon-half human entered the crowded kitchen, the familiar bickering and noise of her team mates immediately flooding her ears. Raven sighed and let out a small yawn and a stretch before walking over to the cubbourd to find her tea bags when she was greated by Starefire, Cyborg and Beastboy whom were all scrambling to make their morning meal. "Mourning," she muttered in responce to all three of them, her voice as monotoned as always.

After preparing her tea, bringing the cup to her lips she rolled her indigo eyes at Cy and BB's immuture agruing. That was just everyday life here at the titans tower, and Raven had grown to enjoy it, and even call it her home. Raven took a sip and closed her eyes, waiting of the calming properties of the herbs to take action. Raven quickly made her way to the table and sat down, to aviod being knocked over in the hustle and bussle of her friend's breakfast making. "So what do we have on the agenda today Robin?" She asked calmly, slowly taking another slow sip of her drink as her eyes glided over to the team's leader.

Raven senced was stressed, and coming in to find the 'lovable' silkie had made breakfast out of the funiture and plates had not helped his fretting. But that was Robin, always planning and sometimes over working himself. Raven wondered if her Herbal tea may help in calm him down for five seconds...

The truth was, Raven was more concerned for her team mates well being then she lead on to be. These people (and aliens) were her family, and stood by her when he had needed them, even if she had tried to push them away. It was a mircle really. Raven suddenly felt the urge to smile, but mentally resisted to do so. From Robin's worrying to Beastboy's insufferable jokes, she was at home with them.

Robin fumed as he examined the damage. And then the little beast started hiding its face and acting all cute and he just couldn't keep that thought from crossing his mind:

That's not even fair, man!

Grumbling at that side of him that just couldn't help but find the creature cute enough to forgive. He walked over to the table, taking note of Rae's questions about what their schedule for the day was like as he went. He dropped the small device he used to keep track of all this on the table before sitting down. With the tap of a control on the side of the device, a hologram materialized in front of him consisting of numerous small floating files perfectly arranged into rows by order of projected difficulty. He sorted through them quickly before selecting five that seemed a good set up for the day. Four walks in the park and one to hell and back. Or at least, that was the projection...

"We've got a couple mill runners. Thieves, robbers, that sort." he said in answer to the question some ten minutes after it was asked. "I'd put more than four on the board for today if it weren't for this last one. Emergency job. Mayor asked for it to be handled post haste."

He tapped another control and the file enlarged to the point that everyone in the room could clearly view it. It displayed a man with a heavily scarred face. Even without the scars, though, he would have looked the hard sort. He just looked like a gangster.

"Vladimir Tempov." Dick said, leaning back and folding his arms. "He's one of the big guys in the local Russian 'family'. Word is he's got some new trinkets in his arsenal. He's been using them to cut a swath of high-level crimes across the city and beyond. Seventeen banks across five cities and counting. The real concern is that he's hitting the banks of rival families. The Mayor is concerned that because Tempov is based locally, he'll bring a mob war down on the city. He wants us to stop Tempov and find out how he's been pulling off these jobs."

"I would suggest a covert operation." Starfire replied. She reached for the bowl of eggs placed on the table and popped one into her mouth. Purposefully ignoring Beastboy's shudder and Silkie's pleading warbles, the princess tucked in another one and crunched quietly. "If he is the big shot as the evidence says, it would be best to handle it in stealth and flush him out."


Cyborg drizzled his deluxe waffles in syrup and nodded. "Star's gotta point. Guy sounds like the type to keep himself under some serious security. But he also sounds dumb enough to host flashy parties....or crash em." He swatted an inconspicuos green hand away from his plate and took a bite. When the table jerked followed by a yelp, Cyborg only snickered at Beastboy through the rim of his glass.

"Ow Cy!! Your freakish foot nearly broke my shin!"
"Next time keep yo grubby hands outta my plate. Boo-yah."
"Cy,, Beastboy...please. Focus."

Both boys cringed under Starfire's tired glare and straightened. Cyborg cleared his throat and turned back to his plate, while the changeling poked at his tofu languidly. Starfire pursed her lips and looked Robin in the eyes, 'Business is business.' Golden fingers rolled a forgotten waffle into a roll and brought them up to the full of her lips. Her hands trembled a bit and she quirked a brow. X'Hal....I am so tired. Cannot even think straight. The run in with the Grand Four yesterday did the shaking of me more than I thought.


Starfire could literally feel the numbing buzz of a migraine near the base of her skull. She made a mental note to check back with Cyborg in the medical bay for her results. In the meantime, Starfire went into autopilot, floating in and out of their impromptu 'briefing'.


"You know," Beastboy chimed, "I think I heard of that guy! Doesnt he double as some upper class tycoon for some kind of game tech company? Dude! He's the guy who makes Mega Monkeys and the Deadman franchise!"
Cybord smacked the grass stain on the back of his head, "Thanks for the point captain obvious. Concentrate on the criminal and not his toys."
"No you dont get it, I read something about a some type of event or something. his name was on the poster!"

"Then perhaps we guise ourselvrs, do the infiltrating and stake out whatever he may wish to get his hands....or whom.?"
"Uh.....yeah.?"
Starfire only reached across the table, "More mustard please!"

Raven watched in silence, her indigo eyes flickering over the projected file. She also had seen that name somewhere. Thinking back to a newspaper article Raven was reading about Beastboy's favorite video game (which the reasons behind the interest Raven does not want to think about or discuss). Raven looked up, resting her mug gently on the table. "Wasn't there going to be a function to celebrate the release of a new game the company was developing? should we check that out? I can't remember the date exactly, but I am pretty sure that is what Beastboy is talking about." She said, voice emotionless as normal.

In truth, Raven was not up for this today, and she senced Starfire was the same. Raven also was not a big fan of disguises and any of Robin's 'covert operations' for that matter. They were always the ones that seemed to go wrong. Raven let her eyes linger over her teamate's faces as she look another tiny sip of her calming herbal tea, absent-mindedly studying their expressions. Starfire looked tired and so did Robin, they both needed rest. Raven sighed and stood up, shuffling out of her seat to take her empty cup to the sink.

"But I agree with Starfire, if we are going to do some reserch, she are going to have to do it undercover." Raven said, more thinking out load then to anyone else.

"I took care of it last night." Robin said, shaking his head. In truth, he'd only gotten about two hours worth of sleep. He'd spent most of the night flitting about town, checking leads on Tempov. He'd known right off the bat that this guy was going to be trouble and he'd been right...

"Now, the reason the Mayor's been so insistent about this guy is that he's been pulling these heists alone." he explained, standing from his seat. "He goes in alone, overpowers everyone there, often we're talking cops and mob enforcers, and then gets away without a discernible scratch. Well, except for those..." he gestured at the scars on Tempov's face. "But you get the idea.

"Then, to make matters worse, the Tempov in the picture and the Tempov who's running all of the business ventures don't appear to be the same person. The guy who shows up at the functions is someone who looks vaguely similar, minus the scars. I guess he doesn't like showing his face in public. I did a little digging. Tempov likes to keep himself deep in the shadows. At least... as long as he's not on a job. His various business ventures make a great deal of money, but he's not the face of it, even if he is the name behind it. He's not shy about people knowing his name. Very shy about his face being connected to the name.

"So we have a problem. As far as I can tell, there's only two ways to do this. A.) We take his double and see how well informed he is about Tempov's operation, or B.) We head Tempov off at his next target in person. B pretty much guarantees that we'll be able to have our face to face with him, but we don't know how he's pulling off his heists so we might be walking into one hell of a trap. A gives us a possibility of usable information, but a small window of time in which to use it. We grab the guy's decoy and he's going to know about it. He'll take measures to counteract anything we do. Either way, we know this: The guy is careful, he's methodical, he's got a great deal of power, and even the mob is afraid of him. Otherwise, they wouldn't have waited until there was only one mob bank left to hit..."

He tapped his little holo-device again and a map of Jump appeared with a glowing dot blinking in the region of downtown. It was Second Liberty Bank, Vinny Double's place...

" Perhaps it would be best if we did the splitting up." Her fork clattered onto her plate and she folded her arms. Sensing Beastboy's confused expression Starfire cut him off with a dismissive way. "Nau, that is not what I mean. This...... Tempov man covers his 'tracks' by letting his double be the figurehead of the public. There are five of us, it would make the most sense to take both options by shouldering them separately at the same time."


Starfire leaned down to collect Silkie, who, had grown irritated of his keeper's negligence and sat him in her lap. The infant moth tried, and failed, to latch his chubby paws onto to rim of the table thanks to Starfire's iron grip. Burbling in annoyance, Silkie slumped back and curled into ball, completely deflated.

"But wait, who's gonna do what?" Beastboy piped. He dreaded the idea of going undercover, as it almost never worked out for him. However the mere idea of attending such an A-list event was enough to quell any of his fears.......as well as put him through the roof.

"Can I go?!"

Starfire giggled a little. "To be fair, it should be distributed as equally as possible. We have 3 members with sharp sensory, 3 of us are powerhouses, 2 of us can detect lie patterns and two of us are heavily trained in specific styles of the combat. And do not forget two of us are experienced in police work, not counting Beastbo3."

"You know.....it really scares me how you know all of this princess."
"I......like to keep track."

Dick considered the options carefully, standing there. He stared at the map, trying to discern the most effective path. Finally, he decided.

"We're going to split up." he said finally, crossing his arms and looking around. "But I'm not comfortable with anything but all five of us together when dealing with Tempov. So, Star, Cy, I want you two to go and get some scouting done around the bank. If you see Tempov, don't engage him. Just call me on the com.

"Meanwhile, Raven, Gar, you're with me. We're going to the party. Don't get too excited, Gar. The venue for the party is one big honeycomb of tiny vent networks. If the Tempov double goes anywhere that Raven and I can't follow without attracting attention, then you'll have to listen in for us. Once we have what we need, Raven, you'll teleport the three of us to the bank. Then all of us will deal with Tempov when he shows..."

Raven nodded slowly at Robin's plan of action, thinking of all the possiable ways this could go horriably wrong. "Alright, sounds like a plan..." she said quietly. Raven leaned on the kitchen bench, tapping her chin. By the sounds of it, this Tempov was paranoid as Robin. Maybe a bit cocky? If he knew the people of jump were aware of him, wouldn't he keep his name hushed up? But then again, he was a gangster, her had money and a gang to back him up. Raven didn't like this...no not at all.

Raven sighed, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "And what happens if our cover is blown? or something goes wrong? Have you got a back up plan in mind?" She asked, eyes not leaving map which she was stareing at, a bored expression on her face. These schemes involving a low profiles where always the ones to blow up in the titan's faces, specially when Beastboy was involved.

"Of course." Dick nodded. "But we don't need to concern ourselves with that because it won't go wrong."

He tapped the device and the hologram vanished. He pocketed the little disk and leaned on the table on his knuckles.

"As for the issue of our cover... there are some perks to dealing with a group of people who've only ever seen you with a mask on." he said, looking over at Raven. "You don't happen to have a nice dress, do you?"

His eyebrows shot up expectantly.

Limo doors opened by the hand of a red carpet attendant and Dick stepped out, dressed in what had to be one of the slickest tuxes in Jump. He learned the art of looking like a playboy from a very talented coach -- Alfred. The man may not have donned that slick persona, but he sure as hell knew how to dress the part, and act it at that. Wayne had his money to fall back on. Alfred? Alfred was talented.

But where he learned to play the part of socialite was the last thing on Dick's mind as he flashed the cameras devilish grins and winks. He could see journalists asking each other who he was. He watched the lips of more than a few of them form the word 'That's...' and then rattle off some absurdly important name. Truth of the matter was that he was no one important, at least not without his suit, and he was there on an invitation scrounged up for him by Mayor, courtesy of a real socialite who was something of a fan of the Titans. Thankfully, the man was a xenophobe these days whose family life was ten kinds of shady. It gave Robin, Raven, and Chihuahua Gar their cover -- Robin, Kenneth Stringer, son of tycoon Robert Stringer, Raven, his beautiful yet unknown girlfriend, and Gar, by necessity, her yappy little purse dog.

He flashed a few more broad smiles that sickened him to his core, the kind of smiles those airheads who didn't know their asses from a hole in the ground had permanently plastered to their faces. So long as you were flashy and looked like you belonged there, no one asked too many questions outside of your credentials by association. He then turned and offered his hand to Raven, still in the car. It wasn't that he didn't like Raven as a friend, consider her a perfectly fine woman, but if he hadn't been imagining her to be Star, he wouldn't have been able to pull this off half as well as he was. If it didn't look genuine, though, no one was making a comment. His ears were peeled for any sign of confusion in the conversations wildly circling the carpet...

Beastboy's ears drooped and his mouth went slack. "I'm going to have to wear that stupid ring again, aren't I?" He was met with a pointed look from Cyborg and followed up with a sigh. It only took seconds for him to register what Robin had actually said. "I'm going downtown?? SWEET! Cy, meet you in the garage man!" Beastboy scrambled away from the table and flew through the doors, skittering down the hall and disappearing to only gods knew where.


Starfire only nodded in response, a slight mix between dejected and despondent. Standing, she collected the dishes from the table and loaded them into the dishwasher. Silkie lumbered around her feet while she added a block of soap powder, occasionally being swatted at every time he tried to nibble on the box. Kicking the door shut as gingerly as possible, Starfire floated towards the exit and waited for Silkie to scamper after her. 'Fifteen minutes, I guarantee fifteen minutes.'


"For the last time, I cannot." Starfire clicked a blue button on her communicator and watched as a holographic screen popped up against a wall in her room. A young woman with sleek black hair and perriwinkle eyes pouted at her and folded her arms.

"What! Koriand'r! We've been planning this for weeks, don't tell me you're giving me a rain check now?" The girl gave Starfire a semi-glare and rotated while the titan paced around her room in search of her holoring.

Starfire tilted her head back and slid her eyes over to her. "I am not giving you a check in the rain Donna; X,Hal. You very well know how crazy everything is right now, I...cannot spare the time. Things have been doing the popping up around here."
"Ooooooooh," Donna crowed, her eyebrows lowering with a smirk, "Impromptu rendezvous with The Dick master?"

Starfire perused through her drawers and paused. "Donna! You know we are only bestfriends." The internal wish was left unsaid. "And I will ignore the sexual implication you tried to imply just now. Now, let us fall the subject, please."
Donna rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her desk. She leaned forward and watched Starfire, unconvinced. "You mean 'drop the subject'; aright Kory-bear, I'll let you slide this time. But next time you're coming to Girl's Night with us, and if Dick or anybody else has anything to say about it I'll punch 'em in the mouth. Or.....tame 'em with my lasso of truth!" Starfire snorted and both girls gave way to a fit of giggles.

"Kinky!" Starfire teased, her mood suddenly lifting. Her fingers enclosed around a familiar circular shape and she shouted in triumph. "Do keep me in mind for future Girl's Night, as I wish to go again. Please, tell Cassie my hello!"
"Always, Kory-bear. And I will, trust me you're going. And if Dick has anything to say about it." Donna snapped her arm in a playful whipping motion for emphasis and nodded. "Make him tweet like the bird he is!"
Starfire rolled her eyes and picked up her communicator, setting it in her pocket after canceling the call. She turned the ring two quarters to the right and found herself staring into a chocolate haired, honey eyed reflection.



"So here's the game plan Star," There was a buzzing sound as a discreet ear-piece was slightly jostled, "Need you to slip inside of the bank and be my inside-man....uh.....woman. I'm gonna' hang back and hack their security system to give us a better leverage and be your eagle eye. Copy that Officer.....what's the tag say again?"

Starfire looked down at her crisp uniform blouse and traced over the gun in her holster. "I believe it is......Rod.....Rod-ree-gez. Cyborg.....is that not Spanish?" Vibrations of a nervous chuckle tickled her ear. "It was short notice! First name that popped up in the database. Anyway, just get on in there lil' lady while I do my thang." Starfire huffed at him and pushed through the glass doors of the massive city bank. As she'd expected, the establishment was crawling with secruity guards, commuters, clerks and normal rag-tags alike. Silently she thanked Cyborg for his forethought in programming a wider range of disguises; she'd fit in here nicely.

Zhuut! "Status report?"
Starfire almost rolled her eyes. "Nothing as of yet. How are you doing with the system?"
There was a click and a whir. "Whoo! This boy is BAD! Lookin' at ya right now Star. Got four cameras under my control, any sign of the wannabe Godfather yet?"
She swept her gaze from a row of booths to the clerks behind the glass and frowned. The amount of crowd congestion in this place was disconcerting, and this was only the first floor.

"None yet. But apparently there is more than one flo-wait. I see a group of four coming in with identical black suitcases."
Pause. "Camera number 5. Dang! Got a part of wall blockin' it. Don't follow 'em yet Star, hover for a minute 'til I get number 6 under lock."
"Understood."

Raven sighed heavily as she took Robin's hand and stepped out of the limo, carefully moving the black 'classy' silk dress she had to wear to pull off the whole rich girlfriend act. Tripping over is the last thing you need, just get in, follow Robin's lead, find the double, get out. She thought to herself, before she was bombarded with flashing camera's and blinded by over sparkled people. Raven clutched the little black purse which the now yappy green chihuahua, A.K.A Garfeild now resigned. Raven interwinded her arm in Robin's hesitantly, watching him flash a slick smile at random people, and winking flirtatiously every so often with ease. Raven didn't know why she was so shocked to see Dick play the role of the wealthy airhead so well. Of course, he did live with Bruce Wayne, one of the worlds best known millionaire socializes.

Raven on the other hand, didn't know to work this false identity. Starfire had helped her 'work on' her smile, and the way she would have to talk if she was confronted. They had come to the decision to only talk when she had to, and, much to her frustration, act like a brink wall. The key was to look good, and you were not bothered. Raven shot some forced, sugar sweet smiles at other guests that would rott your teeth and made Raven's own fair skin crawl.

Raven let her indigo eyes flicker over the faces, eyes peeled for one face in particular. Her now fashionably dark eyelashes which starfire curled and thickened to perfection made excellent cover for her gaze, the make up making it hard for anyone to see were she was glancing. How is completely covering your eyelids with sickeningly bright colours and infuriating glitter 'in fashion'? She thought, noticing many woman had their eyes done the same why. "Seriously, how did the stupid get so rich?" She muttered to Gar, so quiet amoungest all the noise only his dog ears would be able to pick it up.

"Name?" asked the bouncer at the doors into the hall. Flashes from numerous cameras were still blinking across the golden doors and the glass within them. He looked from Dick to Raven and back again, even sparing a shocked look for Chihuahua Gar, no doubt stunned at his coloring.

"Kenneth Stringer." Dick said. "And this is my date, Natalie Bloom."

"I... I'm sorry, sir." said the Bouncer, having checked the list. "Your name doesn't appear to be on the list."

Without missing a beat, he uttered that typical 'you're wasting my time' sigh and reached inside his jacket. Of course, he knew they were going to hit this little issue coming there. They were counting on the fact that no one would have time to look up any information on them ahead of time. Stringer was a recluse, but even a secret son leaves a paper trail. In the end, that kind of paper trail was something that they just didn't have working for them and they didn't want the event planners to have time to run the information.

However, they had the paperwork necessary to look the part. He extracted a pair of tickets for the event from within his jacket and offered them to the bouncer who accepted them and checked them over briefly before giving them back.

"Apologies, sir." he said, rather embarrassed. "I'm sure you understand we have more than a few bottom feeders trying to worm their way into these events."

"I don't care about your security problems." Dick said through another glowing smile as he looked over the man's shoulder at a cameraman who gleefully took his picture. "Just let us in. This is getting embarrassing."

"Of course." the bouncer nodded vigorously. "My apologies again."

"Whatever."

The doors swung open and Dick guided Raven into the hall beyond, already filled with the most influential of the rich and famous of Jump City and beyond. Once they were indoors and the event security had given them some space, he spoke out of the corner of his mouth to Raven.

"Just keep an eye out for the decoy and don't engage anyone for too long. We have twenty minutes, maybe less. We need him quick."

Starfire peered from behind a wall and blinked. She'd be on the trail of those inconspicous suited men only to be detoured by some random call through her dispatcher. The alert was nothing more than a man getting his foot stuck in a toilet bowl; fives minutes and a hotwash later Officer Rodriguez was out and back on the scene. A familiar buzz tickled her ear and she chanced a look at camera 8 moving around above her. "Saw 'em come out of that random corridor, without the bags and a man short."


Starfire glided through the throngs of people and scanned for faces. This was probably the one thing she disliked about covert missions. Scouting targets was at times difficult because humans held a general appearance about themselves. To Starfire, humans were mostly plain-looking and indistinguishable. Nevertheless her hawkeye for detail and distance was a key component in scouting. It was not long before she caught sight of their familar suits again.Slipping behind a corner, Starfire took a shortcut and headed them off. "Looks like they're heading toward the vaults under the bank."

Cyborg sucked in his teeth and shuffled the background. "Alright Star. Let me get camera nine ahead of you before you get down there. As temptin as it is, dont swing on anybody. We'll find the punk and leave."

Once Raven was in with Robin, Gar still in her purse, she mentally sighed with relief. They were in. That was the easy part Rae, Now to find the double, She thought, pushing a loose black strand behind her ear. The place was breath takingly big, and the room was crowded with the most well known and influential members of Jump city and most likely others from all over the states. It was going to be hard trying to pin piont the double's location amoung the suits and dresses.

Just when Raven was getting used to all the people and the different emotion's around her, she felt a bit more relaxed and focused. Raven was pleased when the event security seemed to make more space, Robin spoke to her in s hushed voice, his mouth barely moving he was so quiet.

"Just keep an eye out for the decoy and don't engage anyone for too long. We have twenty minutes, maybe less. We need him quick."

Raven gave him a little nod, eyes once again drifting across the room, the ghostly indigo avioding everyone's eye contact with ease. She could sight of a man slightly hiden by a group of bigger men in suits. It was so suttle, but the arrangment of the men were in was almost...protective. Raven looked back at Dick, one thin dark eyebrow raised, as if asking if they should take a look. Rae knew was the templov expert, and she wouldn't make a move unless Robin gave the okay.

"Do it. Be careful, though." Dick said, spotting what she had. "Don't make them suspicious and don't crowd him. If he senses anything's amiss, he might set off the alarm. I'm going up top."

He nodded toward the second floor balcony overlooking the area. There was a grand staircase at the opposite end of the area that led up to the upper level. From there, he'd be able to get an excellent vantage not only on the group Raven had spotted, but also on everyone else present there in case whoever that was was just some paranoid big-wig with too much security.

The two of them split up and Dick headed straight for the stairs. He moved up, taking a glass of champagne from one of the cocktail waitresses littering the place as he reached the landing where the stairs split off in either direction. He made his way around to the right and positioned himself at the banister between two columns directly above the group Raven was headed for. Looking down, he could see the man and his entourage were, indeed, quite cautious. Still, it was odd. This whole place was filled with people champing at the bit for an opportunity to speak to the man of the hour, Tempov, fake or not. That he'd have guards fending everyone off was a little strange...

He couldn't possibly be expecting us, could he? Dick thought, the horrifying realization hitting him. No. It won't be him. That's all...

"There is no light up ahead."
".....I know. Strangely their cameras don't have infrared lenses. Hold on, lemme reel back and feed in some night vision."

Starfire leaned against a wall and held her breath. The cool metal surface was refreshing against her constantly heated skin, but it did little to calm her thoughts. Trailing them had done nothing but lead her on an overly-complicated mouse hunt that landed her in a labyrinth of sorts under the building. 'And what if I am to come down here and find nothing?' The warrior bristled in irritation, 'It would have been a waste of time!'

Whir. Whirrrrrrrr! "Star, you there?"
"I am here. Still waiting."
"Right. Night visions in but it's jackin' up because the systems sorta rejectin' it. I can sort of see you, and the doors they went through is down those set of stairs, it's got a weird code-pad on it."

She hovered a few inches above ground and ghosted down the corridor, turning sharply, Starfire headed towards the doors as Cyborg rapidly typed in the passcode to force it. The silence was deafening, yet she pursued the entrance until she was within walking distance of it. The closer she became, she could hear the familiar click signifying that the-

Woosh!

Bang!

Cyborg's fingers scrambled over his keyboard, scurrying to find the nearest eye in the tunnels.
".........Starfire! Star! Girl you better answer me!" His frequency latched onto a ruddy discarded camera in a far east corner of whatever area it was in and he zoomed around to focus. Unlike the ones in the hallways, this one actually held a double lens. The only problem was that it was-
"Aw it's infrared!"

Zhuuut! Zhut! "Cyborg, do you do the copy?"
"Woman! Don't you ever scare me like that. I'm lookin' at your heat signature right now." A bright reddish purple blob zoomed toward a large metal shelf and dropped down behind it's boxes. Starfire-blob peeked through a gap in the heavy steel crates and hunched down.
'X'hal. There is a myriad of the minions here. No matter; it is vaguely similar the trial on Mount Yavnor.'
"I am seeing groups of men filing in and out carrying several of the steel boxes. I am not sure if it is only civilian money being placed in the vaults, or the merchandise we suspect. I will not make my move, yet."



Beastboy trembled inside of Raven's purse and growled, which came out more like a strangled whimper. He blinked stupidly from all of the flashing flourescent lights and cantankerous noises inside of the soiree. 'And Dick use to do this for a living? Jeez.' He shifted ever so slightly and something sharp poked him in his paw pads. Yelping, Beastboy punted one of Raven's perfume bottles to the other end of her bag and flattened his ears.

Unfortunately it caught the attention of several women at the event.

"Ohhhhh!" One of them crooned, "He is so precious!"
"Look at how fluffy he is, like a little foxbear and so green! You know, I almost dyed King Louie that color, but he would have none of that." The group of women burst into ear-splitting laughter, fanning themselves and blinking their ridiculously shadowed eyes. The girls smiled at Raven generally and extended their hands to shake. Beastboy twitched and bit down on his muzzle, the antsy-ness of a normal chihuahua threatening to overtake his normally dominant senses. His eyes darted from one girl to the next and his ears flattened against his skull.

"Yip! Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip yip yip!!!!!"
'What?! That's what I sound like when I bark?! Talk about killing a man's dignity!'

Raven watched as Robin made his way up the stairs to get a better a veiw of what's going on. Raven sighed and re-adjusted her purse where her little green dog was moving around like crazy. Indigo eyes locked on her target, Raven manuvered through the crowded room with ease, so quiet no one was really paying any attention to her. She was almost at the small circle of men when...

"Ohhhh! he is so precious!" a young woman sqealed in joy, her and her friends now croweding around Raven and Gar. Raven froced a good natured smile at her, and shook all the extended hands politely. That was when the red head next to her piped up. "Look at how fluffy he is, like a little foxbear and so green! You know, I almost dyed King Louie that color, but he would have none of that." The pack burst into fits of laughter, and Raven could have sworn the blonde's eye lashes where going to fall off.

"Yip! Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip yip yip!!!!!" Beast boy...ah....barked? and all the woman swooned and began to babble about how adorable he was. Raven took the opertunity to peek over then and take a frustrated look at the suspious group of men, before a girl with a massive gem around her neak asked "What is the little darling's name?"

Raven looked down at beastboy and smirked just a little, before looking back up at the girls and smiling, stroking Gar's little back. "His name is Barbra," she answered, putting on that sickly sweet annoying voice.

"Damn!" Robin swore quietly, spotting a group of men descending the far staircase onto the landing. All eyes began to turn up toward the new arrivals and Dick recognized the leader of the bunch instantly. He was just about to get on the communicator when...

"Hey there, handsome." said a cool female voice. He looked around just in time to see a woman in a glitzy gold dress join him at the banister. She looked about twenty, twenty-two. And a shameless, flirty grin was playing across her face. Despite himself, Dick did exactly what Wayne would have done -- play into it.

"Well, hello there." he said, adorning his face with a dashing sort of expression, all the while his mind working wildly to sort out some way to covertly clue Raven in on what was happening. Finally he decided on the only option he had... and it was a bad one. There was no way he wasn't going to have to explain this to Star later. He activated his communicator so it would feed the entire team's frequency.

"Don't you just hate these hideous parties?" the woman said, sipping her champagne. "All these airheads humping the leg of the deepest pockets in the room. So pathetic." she peered over down at the crowd as she spoke. Then with a sigh, she looked back at Dick with a sigh. "Anyway. I'm Cecily Parker."

"Kenneth Stringer." Dick said, smiling. "Ken. So how about this Tempov, eh? Looks like he's about to give a speech or something. If I'd known he was up here, I'd have looked around for him, shaken his hand a bit. My father makes a good bit of money off him."

"Yeah, it's a great program! I wanted to bring it to you first, Mr. Stark, because I know you appreciate good work."

Henry was mostly feigning interest at this point. Every last one of these events came complete with the plethora of idiots who wanted to sell him some horrifying bit of software in the hopes that they could be a flagship programmer for HHS Enterprises. Tempov may have been getting the spotlight of the day, but Henry's industrial fame far outstripped anything that Pinko gangster did playing entrepreneur.

That said, he wasn't interested in buying up yet another new third rate game engine. He'd seen the man's work in action... he wasn't impressed by it.

"Mr. Stark. Seriously, this would be a good investment!" the man said, giving that idiotic salesman grin. If only he knew Henry'd been organizing his playlist on his internal HUD for the last five minutes...

"Hm..." Henry said finally, feigning consideration. "Well, I'll have to talk it over with the other members of the board of directors." TOTAL bullshit. HHS wasn't publicly traded. No board. "I'll get back to ya."

And with that, he turned and made his way in the other direction as quickly as he could. Geeks these days...

"Oi! Whiskey." he said, leaning on the bar and surveying the crowd. The bartender served up the order within moments and he stood there, sipping at it. Damn it, Tempov. Get to it! he thought, staring at the grand staircase at the opposite end of the room. In so doing, however, he found himself an interesting little distraction. "Hm..."

Little black dress... yappy dog... vacant expression. Just the kind of airhead that was good for a one-nighter. Smirking to himself, he moved toward her. She seemed to be headed for Winston Conrad and his guards. The old fart was so paranoid these days, he thought his dog was trying to capture him in order to conduct mind control experiments. Henry didn't have a clue what exactly the old crazy was getting out of being here, but there was no way that girl wanted to be bored to death by that idiot.

Henry paused when a gaggle of girls waylaid his quarry. They seemed to be swooning over that hideously green little mutt. Seriously! WHO PAINTS A DOG GREEN?! Shaking his head, he sipped his drink, waiting for the gaggle to disperse.

"Regi. Do we recognize her?" he asked the AI internally as he stood there. The response was instant.

"We do not, sir." Regi replied. "I've scanned all known databases and she does not appear in any of them. Shall I query classified databases?"

"No. Hack the local news feeds and scan their cued video material for her. See what they have to say about it."

"Understood." Regi said, her computer-generated likeness nodding her head on the edge of his HUD before vanishing. "I've located her, sir. She arrived with this man:" she displayed an image of a black haired, blue eyed individual who looked to be around Henry's age. "According to the guest manifest in the facility's mainframe, he is Kenneth Stringer, son of billionaire Robert Stringer. She is Natalie Bloom."

"Natalie Bloom, huh?" Henry muttered. "Wait. I didn't know Stringer had a kid..."

"I doubt you were the first person on Robert's list when it came to notifying people of his successful reproduction." Regi said, deliberately wording it in a way that would make Henry cringe... which he did.

"Just find anything you can."

"Of course, sir."

By the time that little internal exchange had concluded, the girls inundating his little target had thinned out and he saw an opening. He approached her with a smile that could have made a steel wall swoon.

"Well, now." he said. "Hello there."

Raven's patience was growing thin, these infuriating women seemed to find Garfield absolutely adorable. "Barbra? why Barbra? is he named after a designer?" The blonde asked, giving Raven a very blank look. Idiots... she thought, but forced a 'picture perfect' smile. "No, he is named after a author, Barbra Haworth-Attard. She wrote the theories of relitivity, the novel..."

Raven stopped herself before she would start rambling on about the reason the book was named after Albert Einstein's theory. Rae! to smart! you are the airhead remember! you aren't surposed to know who Einstein is! She cursed mentally, and the group of women gived her rather bewildered looks. At that piont the girls where most likely going to break away and Raven could finially check out that group of men.

That was when she cought sight of a familiar face, walking towards her. The young man shot her a dazzling smile that Even Raven had to say it was a cute-ish grin. I would probably make every girl in this room faint and beg him to take them to the nearest hotel room.

It was a good thing Raven wasn't as stupid as every girl in this room. "Well, now." The smiling stranger said. "Hello there." Now that he was closer, Raven could see why she thought she had seen him before. He was Henry Stark, Son of Tony Stark, President & CEO of HHS Enterprises...and a notorious ladies man. Raven gripped her purse with lil' green Garfeild a little bit tighter.

Remember Rae...play the airehead... She thought, Maybe he had some dirt on Temprov?. Raven shot him back a flirty smile, turning to face him. "Hello yourself..." She inwardly cringed. This is why she hated covert missions. "How can I help you Mr.Stark?" She said, putting on that sickly sweet brainless voice, that was intended to sound flirty. Henry was a known soicalite and bussiness man, he had to know something about her target. Plus, he was suposed to be intelligent, Maybe she might be able to have one bearable conversation and some infomation. Raven swifted her black dress and remembered Beast boy could heard everything that was going on.

Great, he is never going to let me forget this.