If looks could kill Nightwing would be dead. Fortunately for him they couldn't. Instead he leaned against the wall, watching, as an annoyed Raven pulled at the ropes tying her to the chair. The last time she was in this position she was allowed free reign of her prison. Now their leader was taking out some unreleased anger on her under the guise of a more realistic scenario.

"This is a little overkill." Raven spoke in a monotone. He didn't respond. The room was stifling hot and her hair was growing damp from sweat. "I can't even meditate like this."

"You're a prisoner Rae." He spoke as if she were a child. "You aren't supposed to be comfortable."

"Am I being punished for something?" She asked as she blew a strand of damp hair away from her face.

"Why would you think that?" he asked almost as if he was daring her to bring it up.

"I guess I'm just special to get tied up then." She deadpanned.

Nightwing rolled his eyes behind his mask but it was still evident and he pulled out his communicator. "Cyborg any report?"

The little yellow disk crackled to life and Cyborgs voice echoed out. "Nah man. Those kids haven't even gotten past BB yet. He has them running around pretty much playing whack-a-mole."

Nightwing sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Keep me updated."

"Will do." Was the response before he shoved the communicator back in his pocket with an irritated sigh.

"Not performing up to your expectations?" Raven smirked at him. At least she could have a little fun with him. "You know if this was real, this wouldn't hold me."

"You're not the one being tested." He turned from her, walking over to the small folding table he had set up on the other side of the room.

"Then why tie me up?" She glared at his back but he didn't respond. The simple ropes were just that, ropes. There were no incantations, no charms, nothing that would actually keep her stuck. Just normal ropes in a normal knot to restrain a normal citizen. And she was forced to play along.

Nightwing didn't respond, instead he was pulling up various reports on the scenario he had set up. None of the traps near the cavern they were in had been tripped yet. Richard always wanted these scenarios to be somewhat realistic so he only had tabs on his team and not the younger titans facing them. Behind him Raven rolled her eyes. Last time it was her turn to play the victim she had passed the time reading a book, this time Dick seemed to be going out of his way to be, well a dick.

"Dick." No response. "Dick." Raven repeated but there was still no response. "Nightwing!" Finally, her leader turned around.

"What?" He asked not trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"I am all for helping train the kids. I really am." Raven continued from her chair. "But you are being a royal pain. Even more than usual. This can't just be about making it more realistic. I know you are mad at me." Richard stared her down but didn't respond. She sighed, turning her eyes towards the ground, "I'm working on the report. It is just hard since…"

"You over-reacted?" he finished her sentence for her and she nodded. "Raven listen to me." Nightwing walked over toward his faux captive and knelt down to look her in the face, removing his mask in the process. "I know you. What X said freaked you out, and you are not one who normally over-reacts. Except with horror movies." He added with a smirk causing Raven to roll her eyes. "I trust you with my life and it hurts that you don't trust me."

Now Raven felt like shit. Or what shit felt like when it felt worse than shit. There really was no description for how deep his words had just cut. "Dick…" Raven began but she was interrupted by the communicator in Nightwing's pocket coming to life.

"Nightwing! Something is wrong!" Starfire's voice on the other end sounded panicked.

In a moment Dick held his communicator in his hand, "Titans report! What's going on?"

"I got my butt kicked by a black and red blur man." The voice was Beast Boy.

"Starfire? Report!" Nightwing shouted.

"I am the okay." Starfire's voice came through the communicator the panic was gone, she sounded almost giddy but didn't say anything more.

Nightwing scowled and turned toward Raven only to find her chair empty. He was alone.

The glare blinded Raven for a moment before her eyes readjusted. With a few blinks she could make out her friend Starfire, the alien looked overjoyed. It took a split second before Raven realized she was being held tight in another person's arms. Looks like one of the young titans had been successful in 'rescuing' her.

"I didn't take you for the damsel in distress type Sunshine." The arms released her and she turned confused to look at the victor. It wasn't one of the titans. Instead a large man towered over her, he wore simple black Kevlar suit with a large red bat symbol across the chest, his face hidden behind a red motorcycle like hood.

"Oh Jason I have missed you!" Starfire flew at the young man, throwing her arms around him in a life crushing hug.

In a simple move of black magic Raven freed herself from the unthreatening restraints and they fell to the ground in a puff of dust. "This is the guy you ran off with Star?" Raven questioned.

"Oh Raven yes I did the travels with him after Dick had left us." Starfire released the man from her death grip but continued to float around them. "Him, Roy and I had many wonderful adventures together." Starfire continued, detailing the intergalactic battles and criminal bad guys the trio encountered but Raven was no longer listening. The stories were of little interest compared to what she heard coming up behind her. At a full sprint Nightwing was fast approaching, still in a battle mindset.

"Jason?" Nightwing looked on in disbelief as he skidded to a stop. Then a smile broke out on his face, "What are you doing here?" he said as he embraced his brother in a hug.

"Tim called me." Jason said as he returned the hug. "He said Damian was being more of a problem than normal and asked if I could stop by." He shrugged his massive shoulders. "So here I am. Though I couldn't resist interrupting when I saw everyone doing the training mission." A playful smile spread across his face.

Dick shot Raven a look before continuing his conversation with his family. Her mind ventured back towards the words that had been shared in the cave only moments before. It wasn't that she didn't trust her leader, things were just a little… complicated. However, there was something that was tugging at Raven, something oddly familiar about the somewhat estranged Batfamily member standing before her. They had met once before sure, Jason had been a titan once. Though he had only been a member for two weeks before his unfortunate demise at the hands of The Joker.

In truth she had never met up with Jason after his return, Starfire had however and the alien had spent a lot of time telling Raven about that adventure and her relationship with Roy. Dick and Starfire had since rekindled their relationship but the question had never been answered. Did Dick know about her time with the former Speedy?

"Raven?" With a start the young sorceress was pulled out of her own thoughts and found the group of heroes looking at her. Cyborg had joined them while she had been zoning out. "Raven?" Dick repeated.

"Yes?" Raven deadpanned, not wanting to betray any feeling she had. Inside her head she could hear the ghost of her father whispering something unintelligible.

"You remember Jason right?" he asked while gesturing to his brother. "He was Robin after I became Nightwing."

Raven nodded. "I remember. Things didn't…" she trailed off, no one really wanted to go into that unfortunate detail.

"Well it's good to see you again man!" Cyborg hit Jason on the back of the shoulder a little harder than he intended causing the young man to stumble forward. "Sorry, I forget my own strength sometimes. Anyways let's call it a day and get back to the tower. I'm hungry!"

With a nod they began the trek back along the course Nightwing had designed. Near the beginning they found Blue Beetle, Robin and Wonder Girl tied up and unconscious along with a very confused Beast Boy. After a little bit of smelling salts and a lot of explaining the group was climbing into the T-Car, minus the ones who were able to fly.

Raven held back from the group, she needed a break from the mix of emotions billowing off her teammates. What she wanted was a moment to figure out what the feeling was that was itching at her insides. There was something, not wrong necessarily, but something that put her on edge around Jason. Just as she was nearing the tower she realized what it was, and it hit her as if she had suddenly fallen out of the sky, which she also happened to do at that moment.

After a few parting words from Dick, Jason was left alone in one of the many spare rooms of the tower. It was one of many identical rooms set aside for either visiting heroes or new recruits, empty except for a bed and dresser. As the young man tossed his duffle bag onto the bed the door behind him swung open.

"Why are you here?" Raven asked as she glared at him. Behind her the door shut itself with black magic, followed by a click of the lock.

Jason let out a sigh as he collapsed on the bed with a smirk. "Don't want us disturbed Sunshine?"

"Why are you here?" Raven asked again as she approached him, her hands glowing with the same black magic. She could sense the amusement coming off him as he patted the space on the bed next to him. She merely continued to glare at the man, as if she would be able to see into his soul and find the answer she wanted. Jason on the other hand was little more than a wall, the only thing she could get off him was what he wanted her to sense.

Their staring contest was interrupted by Raven's communicator going off.

"You going to get that?" Jason pointed out after Raven hadn't moved. Silently she pulled out the small yellow device, clicked a button silencing the noise and shoved it back in her cloak, all without taking her eyes off her target.

"I want answers, Jason."

"What do you want to know?" he asked innocently enough.

"Why are you here?" she repeated, annoyance and frustration following every word.

"As I told Dick…"

"No." Raven cut him off. "I want the truth."

Jason smiled. "But doll face what makes you think that isn't the truth?"

Raven's glare intensified as she repeated the words he had spoken to her only a week ago. "Blood is thicker than water, birthday girl."

"Ahh." Jason leaned back against the blanket and stared at the ceiling. "You're smarter than I thought you were. How'd you figure it out?"

"Don't change the subject." Raven threatened, she now stood just at his knees staring down at him doing her best to intimidate him. From the little she could read from the arrogant man in front of her she guessed she was failing at it.

"Ah ah Sunshine." He wagged his finger at her as if he was scolding a child. "It is very much on the subject, and a fact I am very interested in knowing. Tell you what," he said as he sat up with a grin on his face. "You answer my questions I'll answer yours."

"How about," Raven leaned in close to his face, "you answer my questions and I don't banish you to another dimension."

"Good luck with that Princess, my time with the All-Caste will make that a little hard for you."

Raven blinked in surprise and backed up a foot as the magic faded from her hands. He was part of the All-Caste? How? Never mind, she couldn't get distracted by that right now.

Jason could see he had flustered the dark sorceress and laughed. "So how bout it? How'd you know it was me?"

"Your… Your…" Raven stuttered as she tried to compose herself but failed causing Jason to laugh even more. Raven cleared her throat silencing the young man in front of her. She stared at him with renewed vigor. "Your aura gave you away."

"My aura huh?" he smirked, "Does Dick know you can identify people by their auras? I'm sure that would make hunting down criminals a lot easier."

Raven shook her head, "It doesn't work that way."

"Then how does it work?"

"That's none of your business." She countered. "What are you doing here? Why did you give me that message?"

Ah ah ahhh." Jason cut her off. "One question at a time."

"You got two, now answer mine. I need to know why it is you gave me that message. Who sent you here? How are you involved? Why…"

"Patience, Sunshine." He patted the bed next to him again. "Take a seat." Jason showed no sign of continuing so she reluctantly sat herself on the bed, maintaining distance between them. "I delivered that message because someone paid me too. Plain and simple."

"That's it?" she eyed him suspiciously

"That's it."

"Someone just walked up to the vigilante Red Hood and asked him to deliver a message like a common sing-a-gram and you followed willy-nilly without a question? And you expect me to believe that?"

"Well you can crack a joke."

"Sarcasm at your obvious stupidity is not a joke." She deadpanned.

"That hurts sunshine." Jason feigned a pain in his chest. "But no. They didn't waltz up to me. I received a message about a job involving my favorite brother and I just couldn't pass it up."

"And you decided to do it as Red X?" she asked accusingly.

"The job was for Red X," he said matter-of-factly, "not Red Hood. Even though I retired that identity years ago my reputation continued and someone called on me."

"Who?" How this guy could so be calm was beginning to grate on Raven's nerves. If she had subjected Garfield to this kind of interrogation he would have forfeited to hide under his bed with his bunny slippers long ago, even Dick would reek of unease by this point, but Jason was different. He was calm with a touch of amusement, and his continued smile bugged her.

"I believe you already asked your two questions, mine turn."

Raven frowned but he showed no sign of giving in, finally she let out a sigh. "Fine. Ask your question."

"Does this have something to do with your father?"

Raven stared at him completely astonished, "How… How do you know about him?"

"Zatanna." Jason's smile disappeared "He wasn't killed last time was he?"

Still in shock Raven shook her head, half answering his question and half protesting it. "I… I didn't ask a question…"

"You asked how I knew about him. That was a question, and I answered it. Therefore, it was my turn to ask a question." If he had taken her head shake as an answer she wasn't aware of it. Raven's mind had fogged over while a distant voice was growing louder, individually the words were clear but she was unable to string them together to form a coherent sentence. As soon as the next word was uttered she had forgotten the first word, keeping her from understanding the screaming.

"Raven." Jason's voice was louder than the phantom in her head and shook her back to the bare room they sat in. "Are you okay?"

Without noticing it a tear had escaped her and fallen down her face and for the first time Jason wasn't smiling. Instead he sat there looking at her with a small frown that mirrored Dick's face of concern in many ways while maintaining its own look of underlying suspicion. Raven hadn't noticed it the entire time she sat here with him, her sudden lack of composure must have thrown Jason off and she finally whiffed something he had been hiding from her the entire time. He was suspicious of her. She was an enemy.

Just as quick as she sensed it Jason had his walls back up. The feeling was gone, replaced with the calm amusement she had grown used to.

"I'm fine." She lied as she absentmindedly wiped the tear from her cheek and Jason didn't push it. She was thankful for that and let out a deep breath she hadn't been aware she was holding as the former Robin watched her. "I…" she stammered off, trying to remember what it was that they were talking about. Her father, that was part of it but that wasn't it. No it was him, Raven refocused her thoughts towards the man in front of her. "Why are you here?"

The smile didn't return to his face, "I was hired to deliver a message."

"No." Raven stopped him. "Not that time. Now. Why are you here now?"

"Tim…"

"No!" Raven cut him off and her eyes glowed red for a moment before she shut them. When she reopened them they were back to their normal lavender color. "The truth."

"This is the truth. Dick gave Tim the audio of our…" he paused slightly, "conversation. He made it audible and was able to figure out I was Red X."

"Dick heard it?" Raven asked more to herself than to Jason and the young man nodded. "Does he know what it means?"

This time Jason shook his head. "No, and neither does Tim."

"Do you?" she asked accusingly.

Jason shook his head once more. "No. We do have our suspicions thought."

"So you guys are talking about me? Deciding how much of a danger I am to you?" The anger had once again returned to her face for a moment before she was able to quell it.

"Dick doesn't know I'm involved. Tim trusts you fully, he is more suspicious of my involvement to be honest and Dick, he hasn't said anything since Tim told him."

"And why are you involved? It can't be a coincidence that he chose you."

"He? So you do know who sent it." Jason let a small smile slip. "According my ahem, employer, I wasn't the first hired but the only one to succeed. The rules were clear, get that message to you, and only you. No paper trail either so a simple letter was out of the option."

"No one has approached me…"

"I was the eighth person contacted."

"How do you…?"

"I never do a job without knowing the full details. If you don't know why your predecessors failed, you can't avoid the same mistakes. "

"So who were they then? No one has…"

"Mammoth," he began cutting her off. "Dr. Light, Adonis, Mad Mod, Mumbo, Control Freak…"

"Okay." Raven interrupted his list. "If so many people know this is hardly a secret message anymore, so why bother after all that? Why not just send me a letter?"

"Have you checked in on any of these criminals since you put them away last time?" Raven shook her head and Jason turned to pull a file out of his duffle bag before shoving it into her hands. "Scrambled like eggs. Everyone one of them." The file he handed her listed every villain he had named off including a few more. Shortly after being turned over to the police all the reports listed strange behavior before each one had gone comatose. They had all been reduced to a drooling mess.

"What about you?" she shoved the paper back into his lap and shut her eyes trying to erase the images from her mind.

"I succeeded." Jason stated.

"Hardly." Raven scoffed. "If I was the only one who was supposed to know you failed. Both Tim and Dick know what the message is. If this sender wanted to keep it such a secret, you should be lying on the floor in a puddle of drool."

"True Sunshine." He said as he reached in into his duffle bag once more retrieving a small black box. "It was pure luck that I found this." Jason opened the box and showed her a clear piece of glass, a microscope slide, and whatever it held was too small for her to see. "It's a small chip, I think it was on the payment. My suit caught it before it could infect me."

Raven didn't know what to think anymore. Questions flooded her mind as she sat there and every time she thought she had an answer it just gave her more questions. She needed to get away, away from the city, away from the tower and away from this infuriating man who had barged into her life and her business. It was all too much.

Without a thought Raven rushed towards the door but as her hand closed around the handle her vision left her. The floor dropped away beneath her feet and her hand slipped through the air to nothing. She hung there in suspended reality for a moment as her blood rushed through her body. A soft scratchy presence was under her arms and legs while dots of blue began plagued her vision. As the spots grew bigger and the darkness faded towards the edges of her vision she realized she was lying face down on the blue carpet.

A firm hand gripped her shoulder gently turning her on to her back before it helped her to a sitting position. Jason kneeled next to the shaken girl and cradled her in his arm.

"Can you stand?" he asked and Raven slowly nodded as he grabbed her around the waist hoisting her up. With her weight on her own feet again the titan wavered slightly causing Jason to lead her toward the bed before she fell again. With an ungraceful plop and a creak of the bed-spring Raven found herself seated on the bed she had just left with the man she had just tried to run from holding her in his arms.

If it weren't for the circumstances this would have reminded her of her short-lived relationship with Jericho, instead this reminded her more of her time with Malchior. A comforting touch from a terrible source. Raven attempted to banish the comparison from her mind as she pushed herself out of Jason's embrace. She had succeeded slightly as the young man was no longer holding her but an arm remained firmly around her shoulders as if he thought she was going to fall over again.

"Now." Jason spoke softly as Raven merely stared into space. "Shall we discuss why Slade is sending you secret messages?"

A/N: This story is bothering me. I feel as if I am rushing, so I included a downtime in the previous chapter. Now I sit here. I see what I have written and I am bothered but I don't know why.

When Raven came to earth in the comics she went to the justice league for help but Zatanna sensed the demonic portion of her and convinced the League to turn her away. Jason's history pulls from several comics of him. If you aren't familiar with it that is fine as anything that would require knowledge will be explained in story and has no relevance anyways.