Stilettos Chapter 8

Talon bypassed the locks of the back entrance to the bank easily. Honestly, if this were a real heist, it wouldn't even be a challenge. But it serves a purpose, so she entered the bank, opened the vault, and deliberately set off the alarm.

She tinkered around in some of the personal security boxes and toyed with a few family heirlooms to pass the time as she waited, but ultimately left everything. There was nothing of interest here, and she didn't want to be bogged down with anything when the Titans showed up.

It had been two weeks since she had broken into Titans' Tower and pilfered her own belongings from her former home. In that time she had scoured the books she had brought and tried a number of divining spells to try and figure out what was wrong with her powers. Nothing worked. The only clue she had was her mirror, which still burned her when she tried to touch it. She tried meditating with it as she used to, but it was as if her mind was blocked off.

The whole situation had her breaking down from frustration all over again, just like when it first happened. Only Selina's encouragement and ability to distract her were keeping her sane and keeping her trying each time she felt like giving up.

Selina had also reminded her of the necessity of remaining active as Talon, especially after her last heist had been the Tower, and Robin had caught her. The Titans had to see that she wasn't mysteriously stopping right after acquiring her spell books, and she had to find out what the Titans were thinking, if they suspected her.

But they were taking an awfully long time showing up, and she was starting to get impatient.

With a frown, she heard police sirens approach. Grumbling silently about useless superheroes, she resigned herself to waiting another night to meet the Titans. If she was seen by the JCPD then at least they would know that she was still active.

Talon ducked out the nearest window and climbed up to the roof, so she could show her face to the police and make a quick getaway. As soon as she reached the top of the building, though, she realized that it wasn't going to happen that way.

"Well that explains it," she said to the night air.

Across town, but still clearly visible from her perch, four small and synchronized figures were pitching a battle against a giant robot she had never seen before. Her guess, based on the design and movements of the titanic robot, would be that that it was merely a machine built as a nuisance. It had no consciousness like Cinderblock or Plasmus (debatably) did.

Pulling out a grappling gun, Talon jumped off the roof of the bank, ignoring the shouts and sirens of the police she left behind her, and began making her way across town.

As she approached, she was happy to see that the Titans were easily kicking the tin can's ass back to the scrap heap. Of course, underneath her more dynamic thief persona, Raven still loved her friends very much. She celebrated their successes, and even more than that, she valued their safety. Being back in Jump without being back with them was difficult.

She had nearly reached them now, and the robot was about to go down. But Talon's sharp eyes saw the robot make a desperate last effort to take down one of the Titans. The robot's hand detached from its metal wrist and shot towards Starfire, who was occupied with tying the robots other arm, which had extended several times its length, into a knot. Talon unclipped her last grapple so she could continue her forward momentum, and in midair she perfectly aimed a small bomb she carried with her at the projectile shooting towards the alien.

When the bomb connected, it set off a powerful explosive that had been hidden in the robot's detached hand. The explosion was thirty feet from Starfire, but she still shielded her eyes from the explosion.

When the fire of the explosion died, Talon's mind exploded in sensation. A sense returned to her. Her empathy. For just a moment, she was flooded with the emotion of everyone on that block. Thankfully it wasn't many, because people tended to clear out in the face of giant attacking robots.

One person's feelings stood out above all others in that second she had her empathy back. One consciousness so full of vile malice and ill-intent leads her to notice for the first time a female figure beside Robin. The two of them finally take the robot out of commission together, unaware of her gaze.

The horrible feelings that emanated from that girl were so powerful she almost forgot to shoot out another grappling hook, and got the gun off just in time to save herself a painful and embarrassing landing.

Starfire watched the thief grapple up to a low roof nearby, lost in thought. She had seen the direction the bomb had come from which had saved her from the robot's murderous intention. There was no explanation except that this new villain had saved her. But why?

From a steady vantage point, Talon was able to observe the scene before her with more focus than before. She observed Robin shaking hands with the girl, seeming to thank her. Her body language read very open and cheerful. The contrast to what Talon now knew to be her real disposition was staggering. She had never seen a person who could hide their real selves so well. She couldn't imagine a more dangerous power.

Talon noticed Starfire observing her at that moment, and decided, for the sake of her reputation, that it was time to speak up.

Talon jumped easily off of the roof of the three story building and landed gracefully on the ground, interrupting the Titans' celebrations.

"This was what was more important than me?"

Robin smirked, assuring her, "You were on our to-do list."

She scoffed, unimpressed, then tilted her head to look over at the mysterious woman again, giving her an obvious look up and down. After a moment of condescending scrutiny, she asked, "And who are you supposed to be?" Examining her outfit, a navy blue armored body suit and a color-block mask in orange and black covering the top half of her face, she continues even more condescendingly, "Deathstroke's Daughter?"

If she hadn't been looking for it, she wouldn't have noticed the slight twitch of the woman's hand when she said that, and she considered her worst suspicions confirmed.

Robin stepped forward then, arms crossed and head cocked to the side. He looked directly into her eyes and said, "She might become a new permanent member of our team, so if you plan on sticking around Jump you should probably get used to her."

Cyborg looked at his leader like he has three heads, and interrupted, "Robin, man, I don't know if you should-" Robin cut him off with a shake of his head. Cyborg did not look pleased, Talon observed, but he conceded for the time being.

Talon then heaved a dramatic sigh, and turned her back on her former team. She head a step from an unfamiliar boot. Must be the new girl.

The steps halted suddenly. Talon supposed Robin had held her back from pursuing her.

As Talon sauntered away into a shadowy place where she could disappear from sight, she called back, "I'd better be on the top of that to-do list, next time, Robbie. Crime is so much less fun without a bunch of heroes to mess with." And with that, she faded into the night.

At least, the Titans thought she did. She grappled into the air, and swung around several buildings until she was behind the Titans, and listened to their conversation from a distance that would have been impossible for human ears. As it was, she could only barely make out what they were saying, and that was only because they were a loud bunch.

Cyborg was already in the middle of demanding why his leader had deemed it necessary to give information about their team to the enemy.

Robin answered his best friend in a falsely light voice, "Because if she is who I think she is, she'll want to know."

"And who might that be?" Cyborg demanded.

Talon is amused by Robin's deflection of the question, but not at all amused by how sure in his conclusion he was.

The leader attempted to distract his team by calling for them to go get some pizza and "celebrate Ravager's first successful mission."

Ravager, Talon noted. She would remember that name. She would not let that evil person harm her team. Her family.

Starfire knocked firmly on Robin's door, and waited to hear his call to enter. Walking into his room, she was surprised to find him looking at a framed photo of the original five Titans at a carnival. She thought she recognized the frame as the one Raven had kept on her bedside table.

"Robin, tell me, do you believe that this Talon is truly our friend Raven?" she asked immediately.

She surprised him. He had informed the team that Talon had broken into Raven's room in order to steal rare valuable book to sell to collectors, as the criminal had told him she would. He had yet to share his suspicions about her identity because Raven's disappearance had left them all heartbroken, but probably Starfire most of all. The boys missed her terribly, but they had come to accept that Raven had been unhappy and had chosen to leave to deal with it. They hoped she would eventually contact them or return, and they felt a bit betrayed at the beginning because she had not said goodbye, but they forgave her. Starfire, though, could not fathom that her dearest friend could be happy without them beside her. She was not only betrayed, and lonely, but confused and angry. Her anger had passed into sadness, and betrayal passed into hurt, but the other feelings remained, and likely would until Raven returned to them. Robin couldn't bear to give her hope when the best case in this scenario was that their friend and ally had become a criminal who lived to taunt them.

But now Starfire herself suspected and he couldn't lie to her. "Yes, Star, I think she might be Raven. When she broke into Raven's room, I caught her looking at this photo. She's too professional a thief to waste time on something like that and let herself get caught. Also, aside from the blast damage to the window, the room didn't look looted, it looked like someone who knew the place had taken specific things. Why? What makes you think that?"

Starfire told him of the bomb she threw to protect her at the end of the battle, while she had been occupied with one of the robot's extended arms. Robin's face split into an enormous grin. It wasn't solid evidence, but enough when enough circumstances combine, it becomes proof. There was a very good chance that this thief was Raven. Less ecstatic.

"Raven might be a thief," he said lowly.

Starfire merely smiled back widely and answered, "But she has come back home, and she looks to be having so very much fun!"

Robin shook his head in fond exasperation, saying, "Yeah, but don't get any ideas about going to have some fun with her."

The alien laughed and cheerfully declared, "Oh do not worry! We simply must make her remember that being with us was also fun!"

A/N: Hey, so yes, I am alive, and I am aware that I still have unfinished stories on here! But wow the last couple of years have been blurs! I'm sorry to everyone who has waited a very long time for me to stop being such an asshat and continue this.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter (short as it is). More should be coming soon. Let me know what you think in the reviews!

Cheers,

Demo