The Next Generation

Starfire rolled over to face Neal as he approached. "Oh, it must be time for lunch," she stated, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the chair. "Do not worry about your timing, it is just fine. I was beginning to feel the hunger myself. A nice meal is just what my body needs right now." She stood up and stretched, then walked forward past him, stopping a moment to take in his reaction. "Oh dear, have I gone and stimulated your 'raging hormones'? You silly earth boys." She chuckled and gave him a wink, then grabbed her uniform and headed back inside.

Sarah stood there, practically aghast. Hanging her head, she groaned and tried to return her face to a normal color, rather than the bright red it was. Jeez, she was this embarrassed and she wasn't even the one who'd just walked stark naked past her new friend, Neal. Starfire's complete lack of shame was rather perturbing.

"Um, hi, Neal..." she muttered, glancing up at him. "So, how are things...?"

Neal just blinked for several moments as Starfire just acted completely normal around him. Jeez what was with that girl, did she have no shame at all? She was just acting completely normal, the only thing that she did was make fun of him for acting strange around her! BUT SHE WAS THE ONE ACTING ODD! He couldn't help but watch as she grabbed her uniform and eventually left, causing him to shake his head to try to get back to acting normal.

"Hey Sarah. Things went pretty well. Apparently I do some sort of astral projection.........illusions and hallucination type stuff", Neal said in order to clarify what Raven had told to him earlier. "So that's cool I guess, and how did your training end up going? I'm guessing it was pretty, unique", he said as he glanced back at where Starfire had been sitting.

"Unique... that's one way of putting it," Sarah said with a small sigh. She started walking back to the tower with Neal and took in a deep breath. "Starfire is definitely, erm... different. Though, I guess considering she's an alien from another planet, one would expect her to be a little different. Anyway, I guess we should get back for lunch, heh..." Glancing back up the path leading to the tower, she caught one last glimpse of Starfire slipping back into her costume just before disappearing inside the building.

Then, she looked back down at herself, then at Neal, then up at the tower again. She'd suddenly never felt so inadequate in her life. Damn nudist aliens. "So, illusions, huh? That sounds like it could be prety interesting... the most I can do right now is make a rock twitch. Kind of. Well, I might be able to make it vibrate a little. I'm sure it'll get better..."

Neal blinked as he heard the explanation for why Starfire was so different. She was an alien? He had been in the same area as the Titans his entire life and didn't know that! Superman was an alien and he looked just fine, he had assumed that whatever Starfire was merely came as a side effect of her power, apparently that wasn't true. He'd have to learn a bit more about that, maybe he'd ask her personally some time.

"Hey don't be hard on yourself, I wasn't able to do anything today. I just sat there for hours and meditated. Apparently it's supposed to make my brain work better or something, make sure the power stays in my control", Neal said with a tiny shrug. He didn't really know how else to say it since he'd never really worked with the power before. "You'll get better, we both will. I'm sure of it", he said as they made their way towards the tower.

And shortly after lunch, Sarah and Neal were left alone in the tower. The Titans had been called in by an alert on the main computer, having to deal with trouble down town. Of course, the Titans weren't going to bring them along, considering they were still just barely more than civilians and really wouldn't be able to contribute anything. So, for now, they were to just wait back there and make themselves comfortable while the Titans were on the job. Fortunately, there was plenty in the tower to keep themselves entertained with, from a state of the art gym to a game room with everything one could ever dream of to waste time and have fun doing it.

Right now, Sarah was sitting upside down on the couch in the main room, just sort of doing nothing and relaxing. Why she was upside down was anyone's guess, it was just the position she ended up in when she threw herself on the couch, and didn't feel like shifting around to right herself. "What do you think they're doing?" she asked, not even sure if Neal was close by to hear her. "Think it's another bank robbery, or something different? Maybe it's one of those 'super villains' like we hear about in the news."

After the Titans left to answer the call, Neal and Sarah found themselves alone in the tower. There was plenty of stuff to do, but given Nightwing's little threat from the night before he figured that it was probably wise to still not touch anything unless he was certain of how it worked. Right now he wasn't sure what in here was a fridge and what was a secret panel. So for the moment, he sat on the edge of a couch and watched a little bit of the television that had been left on by Cyborg.

"No idea, if they were called I would imagine that it was something of high level importance", Neal remarked as he glanced over towards Sarah. "Normally they deal with super villains, but they helped us out due to the danger of the situation ya know?", he reminded her casually. "Regardless, we'll find out soon enough", he said before taking in a slow breath. "Hey Sarah. How are you feeling about.......all of this?"

Sarah looked up when Neal asked the question and then slightly righted herself on the couch. "How do I feel about all of this? Uh... well, a little weird, I guess. I mean, this is hardly what I expected I'd be doing with my life, you know? Here I thought I was going to be a lawyer. Guess I'll be... fighting crime in a completely different way, huh?" She let out a small laugh and then sighed, shifting her weight again. "But still... it's going to take some time getting used to all of this. Especially living here... with the Titans of all people. Especially Starfire... she's, um... free? You know she's insisted that I take my morning showers with her... to use less hot water was her reason. I certainly hope that's the only reason..."

Clearing her throat, Sarah stood up suddenly and started walking over to the kitchen for a drink. The fridge was stocked with plenty of beverages, and she chose a can of grape soda. it had been ages since she'd had grape soda. "So, what do you want to do in the meantime? We can't just sit here doing nothing for who knows how long. I'm sure this place has plenty to keep ourselves entertained with, am I right?"

Neal raised an eyebrow at Sarah's comments. "You were going to be a lawyer? That's awesome", he said with a truly honest smile. Neal wish that he could have been doing something that honorable with his life, but no he was stuck with the gift of a calculator mind. He could solve most problems pretty quickly, but it wasn't something that he enjoyed doing. It was just how his brain worked, numbers moved through them like they were designed for the slot. "Well I'm sure that was all she had in mind", Neal said as he did his best to hold back a chuckle. He was probably doing a pretty bad job of it though. Neal wasn't that great at hiding his feelings after all.

Neal thought about her next question for several moments. She had a point, there was probably plenty to do and they were wasting it by just sitting here. "Well the tower is pretty huge", he pointed out. "Perhaps we could take a look around in order to get settled ya know? I mean for the time being this will be home after all"

"I guess so," Sarah said with a shrug. "Kind of strange to think about though... this place being home. I mean, the only home I've ever really known is, well, my home, where I grew up. I always thought that I'd be moving out and getting a place of my own, and then maybe find that special new home... never that I'd be bunking in a superhero headquarters. Oy, if my parents could see me now... well, they'd probably freak out and say it was too dangerous and that I should come home. Heheh... they'd never be comfortable with me doing this in a million years."

Letting out a sigh, she moved towards the door that led into a hall and looked both ways. "Wonder what kinds of things they have in this place. I mean, it was built for five people, but it's a whole building. It doesn't take a whole building for five people to sleep in. They must have all sorts of interesting stuff lying around... let's explore."

"Yeah I can relate to that feeling", Neal said as he leaned up against the kitchen counter which was conveniently close to the living room. You could cook and watch TV at the same time! He glanced over towards Sarah before he said, "I only lived in my house with my Dad until I left for college. While there I bunked with a few others guys, I've only been living in my own place for about the last two months. Landlord will probably be pissed that I'm leaving so soon", he added with another laugh as he pushed himself away from the counter.

"Yeah that's what I was thinking", Neal said as he looked around the place. "I mean who knows what kind of stuff they have stored here. I doubt they have just a bunch of empty rooms, some of it is bound to be interesting", he said as he followed Sarah into the hallway. Once she said that they should go and explore Neal just gave her a nod. "Ladies first", he said with a smile.

Sarah took the lead, marching through the long corridors and many floors of Titan Tower. Much to her disappointment, they didn't find anything super cool or secret, at least at first. They did, however, discover that the tower was outfitted with all sorts of neat stuff that would make most kids squee with excitement. Her brother, in particular, would probably wet his pant in joy if he could see the game room. The entire back wall was a TV screen hooked up to various video game systems. If Sarah had to take a guess, she'd say the room was used mostly by Cyborg and Beast Boy; they seemed like the gamer type.

Aside from that and the state of the art gym for work outs, they found a sauna, a dark room for developing photographs, a dojo, a library, a firing range (though there were no firearms in sight, obviously. Most likely used by Starfire and Cyborg for target practice, and perhaps Nightwing with any of his known projectiles), a garage for various transportation vehicles (and not the kind you'd see anyone driving to work), a small aquarium, several guest bedrooms, and a memorial room for the fallen Titans of the past.

After trudging all over the tower, up and down its many floors, Sarah was just about ready to take a break. "Phew..." she breathed, sucking in a large gulp of air. "This place is freaking huge. I feel like I just hiked up a mountain."

It was amazing what kind of a budget a bunch of super heroes could get their hands on. Speaking of which, Neal couldn't help but wonder what kind of money they obtained and how. Did the City pay them for their protection? Did they have endorsements that they did or something? He'd have to make a point to ask about that later, there was no way that they were just given all this free stuff after all. Plus, Neal doubted that any normal construction company built this tower.

The amount of variety and rooms that they had were amazing, it was clear that several very different people lived here. This place had anything to accommodate them. Neal made particular note about where the Sauna was if he wanted to come down and relax. Of course, he had a feeling that Starfire was the one who used that more than anyone. He'd have to take care about when he came down.

"Yeah", Neal said as he also took in several deep breaths of air. "It was like walking up and down a warehouse", he muttered to himself as he scratched his head and glanced back towards Sarah. "We're definitely a part of something much bigger than us now, a lot of people have come and gone through this place", he said as the picture from the memorial room came to mind. "We'll have to make sure that we're at our best"

"That's... actually kind of intimidating when you think about it," Sarah muttered, looking back at the memorial room, from where they had just come from. "I mean... that's a lot of expectations to live up to, you know? I just hope I don't suck too badly... But I guess the best we can do is try our hardest, huh?" She would certainly try, she just didn't know how cut out for this whole superhero gig she would be... though, it would be pretty awesome if she did well. How many people could say they grew up to be a superhero?

A short while later, the Titans returned from their alert. According to Nightwing, it had something to do with a big diamond heist at the local museum. Someone gave them a tip that something was going down there some time that day, so they were called in to handle it. Normally the police would have done it themselves, but there were rumors that it was no ordinary heist; a little someone named Catwoman was leading the thievery, and while the Titans managed to catch most of the hired crooks, the big boss lady got away.

"It is getting late," Starfire said, looking out the window at the night sky. "I think we should all eat a big dinner and then get some rest for tomorrow. Sarah! We can take a shower together after dinner! I do so enjoy it. Raven never seems to want to join me in the bath, and I cannot figure out why."

Sarah just sweat dropped. "Uh.... yeah... sure..."

Meanwhile, Cyborg leaned in to whisper something to Beast Boy. "Hey, those hidden cameras you installed still work, right?"

Beast Boy whistled innocently. "Naturally."

"Good... not all of us can be a fly on the wall, you know."

"Catch ya later," beast Boy said with a salute, then literally turning into a fly and going... somewhere.

"All anyone can expect of us is that we do our best. We can't give anything more than that", Neal said as he also glanced back at the Memorial room. It wasn't as if the wall was filled to the brim with fallen heroes, but it was enough for both Neal and Sarah to realize what they had exactly gotten involved in. They still had loads of training to do before they were going to be let out into the field, but out there no one was going to go easy on them once they realize that they were new Titans. The world probably had no idea that two new potential Titans were at the tower, he imagined that kinda thing would be kept extremely low.

"Well glad to hear that that no one was hurt.....minus the bad guys of course", Neal said as they were given the report on what happened at the bank. He just hoped that when the Titans let Neal and Sarah tag along that they would allow the two new heroes to get anything done. Of course the mission was going to come first, but it wasn't going to do anyone any favors to show that there were two new super heroes that weren't fully trained with their gifts.

After Starfire made her announcement that she would once again be showering with Sarah, Neal couldn't help but just let out a tiny smile. Say what you wanted about their mannerisms, being around the Titans was going to be an enjoyable time. "Dinner definitely sounds good I gotta admit", Neal said as he pushed himself up from the couch that he had been sitting on. He glanced over at Sarah and gave a tiny smile, trying to make her smile after that uncomfortable approach from Starfire. He knew that while the alien hero enjoyed their time together, it was obvious that Sarah would rather just shower alone.

"Sarah! It is time to wake up!" Starfire shouted, as she did every morning. Today was different, however. Today was special. "There is no time for a shower, Nightwing and the others are already waiting!"

Sarah very groggily rolled out of bed, barely able to come to her senses before being dragged off down the hall by Starfire. Fortunately, ever since the first incident of being flown half baked out of the room to the shower, she had had the frame of mind to start wearing pajamas to bed. At least now when she was pulled down the hall, she was clothed. Still, why Starfire wouldn't let her change into something more... appropriate, was something that escaped her.

And so then there she stood, in the middle of the main chamber, which was basically the massive living room in front of the large computer screen, with the kitchen in the background. Nightwing and the other Titans were indeed already there, lined up and waiting for them. Starfire got into line, after shoving Sarah into place next to Neal.

"And now we can begin," Nightwing said, giving them both a nod. "Sorry to wake you so early, but best to get this out of the way before any alerts come in. During the past several months, you two have been living here along with us, training under us, and now it's time for you to become one of us. Your powers have progressed to a very proficient level, and your knowledge and understanding of how we work I believe has grown to a point for you to follow us into the field, as official Titans."

Nightwing then walked forward and presented each of them with a headset and communicator, both with the Titan logo on it. He also gave them each a box. "Inside the box you'll find your uniforms. I took the liberty of placing the order from a personal friend up in Gotham. You'll find them quite efficient."

Sarah opened the box and looked inside. "Oh, wow, thanks... I guess that explains why you asked me my favorite color schemes last week."

"Go ahead, try it on," Nightwing said. "Everything should fit perfectly; Raven gave me your measurements. She pulled them from your head when she was in there."

"Uh... right, good to know," Sarah said. What else had Raven learned about her in her mind? Moving along, she went into the next room to change into her new uniform. Amazingly, it did fit perfectly. She returned into the main room a moment later. "So... what do you think?"

Thankfully, Neal never got quite the rude morning wake up that Sarah had received from Starfire. Cyborg or Beast Boy always came and knocked on his door before giving a loud shout to wake him up. It wasn't the preferred way to wake up, but at least he had never been fully dragged out of bed like an animal. This morning, it was a bit different though. Instead of just yelling for him Cyborg actually opened the door to make sure that Neal was up. Neal was about to change but Cyborg said that it didn't matter right now. Neal couldn't help but wonder if something really bad had happened.

He went into the living room, crossing his arms as he did so. This early in the morning he felt a bit chilly, as if his body alone was telling him that something was up. As Sarah eventually came over and joined him at his spot, he gave a small nod and smile before turning to face Nightwing who was addressing them now. As the man spoke Neal gained a tiny smile as he gave them a few compliments. It wasn't like he was thanking them for saving the city, but he was admitting that they had improved their abilities to a great point. It was what he said next that nearly made Neal's jaw drop.

They were being made into official Titans. Hell Yes! Neal's smile became extremely apparent as Nightwing finished his speech, moving forward to give them both outfits and the equipment that they were going to use while they were with the team. Neal didn't think that any moment in his life compared to what was happening right now? He took the box and opened it to take a look, this was so cool.

As Sarah left he was standing there for another minute, just looking at the suit before realizing that he should probably go and change as well. "Oh right", he said to himself as he realized the other Titans were staring at him. He quickly went into the other room and examined the outfit. It was pretty much pitch black with only a few streaks of red through the outfit. More than a uniform, it was more like battle armor. It was thick in key areas to probably prevent knife or gun fire wounds. Along with that it was also easy to move in, what the hell kind of friend did Nightwing have in Gotham? Lastly he put on the black helmet which covered up almost the entirety of Neal's face. The visor of the helmet seemed to be made of another strong material, and on the inside were several different viewing modes that could be changed with just the press of a button. It would help Neal keep track of his enemies, while they hopefully missed him.

As he placed the last of it on, he moved back into the other room. He walked naturally, not feeling as if he was being weighed down by the suit that he now wore. "God this is so cool", Neal said with a smile as he looked to the others. In particular he looked towards Sarah who was sporting her new uniform. "Very stylish, you pull it off very well Sarah", Neal said as he moved over and stood next to her.

He still could hardly believe it. They were Titans now.

"Ooooh!" was Starfire's response to Sarah walking into the room with her new uniform on. She flew over to the girl and lifted her up into a big, almost bone crunching, hug. "You look most marvelous, Sarah! Like a real hero! Welcome to the team!" And then, when Neal came back out, she turned her attention and flew over to him, giving him the same vice like hug. "And you as well, Neal! You look wonderful!"

Sarah shifted her weight and smiled a little. She felt flattered, and welcomed. it was a funny feeling, really. When she'd first arrived her, she'd been nervous and unsure of herself. Now, she felt at home, and confident. She didn't even mind her daily showers with Starfire anymore; it was almost a second nature by now. Even the woman's nudist nature seemed almost normal.

"Thank you, everyone," she said, giving a little bow. "I promise I'll try my best not to let any of you down."

Nightwing gave her a nod. "That's all we can ask for."

Just then, an alarm went off. The computer screen on the back wall flicked on and began flashing. The city map popped up, with a glowing red dot blinking over an area. Nightwing hurried over to the computer and started investigating. "Not good," he said. "We have a red alert."

Their various alerts were organized by color, with yellow being the least urgent, and red, apparently, being the most urgent. These were things that the police could not explain, could not handle, and absolutely needed the Titans on the job, pronto. It also meant... "Civilian casualties," Nightwing muttered, turning the screen off and heading to the elevator. "Titan's, let's go."

Neal couldn't help but let a tiny chuckle escape him as Starfire captured Sarah in one of her bone crushing hugs. Of course, he wasn't laughing for much longer considering that she came over to him next and delivered one that was just as powerful. This woman seriously pressed the limits of what was normal and socially acceptable. Still, like Sarah, Neal was finding that he enjoyed everything about the Titans. They were all growing on him, even the ever quiet Raven whom he had gotten to train a great deal with.

Neal opened his mouth in order to say some sort of thank you that was similar to Sarah's, but he wasn't given enough time as the alarm went off. He narrowed his eyes as he realized that they were going to go out into the field now. They were official Titans, they couldn't just hang back anymore. What could a red alert this early in the morning be caused by though? A bank robbery? A murdering spree of some sorts? Neal wasn't sure, but they were going to have to figure it out now.

"I hope that you're ready for this, it's time that the world saw what we were capable of", Neal said with a grin as he turned to rush out with the other Titans. As he moved he couldn't help but smile. Today the world was going to get its first taste for the new superhero Fade.

"So what's going on?" Nightwing said, questioning the police officer on the scene. They were outside the local shopping mall, the entirety of which had been roped off with bright yellow caution tape. Swarms of squad cars surrounded the building, with a bunch of officers standing around and going over information, and others scratching their heads in confusion.

"I haven't the damnedest clue," the officer said, throwing his arms up in the air. "It's- I mean- well fuck, I've never seen anything like it. That's why we called you. This is some really freaky shit, I'm serious. Go in and check it out for yourself."

"Will do," Nightwing said, motioning for the others to follow. "Let's go, Titans."

The officer looked over as the group started to move. "Hey, who're they? New guys?" He was of course referring to Neal and Sarah, who had not yet been seen by the public as part of the Titans.

"Uh, yeah, you could say that," Nightwing said. "They're capable though, I assure you."

Inside the mall was something out of a nightmare. Everywhere, there were bodies. Shoppers and employees, mall security, and everything in between, all scattered throughout the building in motionless heaps. But they weren't just regular bodies. Rather, they looked... drained, dried out. Their flesh had wrinkled, like leathery lettuce. Each one of them were also lying in the same position, on their backs with their hands and knees drawn in by their chest, and eyes staring straight forward in terror. The eyes were not normal eyes, either, instead blank slates of clouded white. Whatever happened here had turned these people into withered husks. It was a truly disturbing sight.

"My god..." Sarah uttered, holding a hand over her mouth. She suddenly felt sick. "What the hell happened here?"

"Shit if I know," Cyborg muttered, scratching his head. "I haven't seen anything like this either.

Beast Boy shuddered. "Talk about creepy..."

"This is... most horrible," Starfire said in an uncharacteristically somber tone.

Nightwing glanced around at the bodies, kneeling down to inspect several of them. "Something out of the ordinary definitely happened here. We'll probably have to take some samples and analyze them, see if maybe whatever did this left something behind in these bodies."

Raven, who had been hanging back, suddenly lurched forward and held her head with her hands, groaning and shouting in what could only be described as tortured surprise. "Unngh!" she uttered, dropping to her knees. "No... so much pain... there is so much pain here. What happened here... it is madness! Pure madness!"

While Nightwing spoke with the police officer in charge, Neal tried to gain a look at where they were exactly. They weren't sure what they were dealing with yet, but gaining an idea of where they were and WHY it might have happened was something that Neal wanted to start doing. Nightwing told them that they should always try to keep their mind working, always trying to figure out who did something and why. Sometimes the evidence wasn't always as clear as what was in front of them. It was a lesson Neal was trying to take to heart.

Neal glanced at the officer as he mentioned about the new guys. Neal could tell that a few officers were looking at them funny, but he had figured that it would be best to not say anything until Nightwing wanted it brought up. It seemed like that time was now though, as Nightwing mentioned that they were both new but capable members of the Team. Neal merely gave a nod to the officer as they walked past him to observe the crime scene.

"My God", Neal said as he got a full good look at what had happened to the people in the room. What could have possibly done this? They were like something out of The Walking Dead! It was like they had all the water sucked out of them and than been left in the desert to rot away. What could have possibly done this? A biological weapon of some kind? Or maybe something more sinister? Whatever it was, Neal couldn't help but be worried about it.

His eyes immediately shot towards Raven as she began to grab at her head, apparently feeling a great deal of pain that was in the area. "Hey Raven", Neal said as he moved over towards her. He was trying to get her mind away from whatever it was that she was feeling, although he doubted he'd have much success. He wasn't really sure how to deal with Raven in this kind of situation, but he had to do something!

"Raven, easy, calm down," Nightwing said, trying to calm the stressed Titan.

But she would have none of it. Not Nightwing nor Neal could get her to ease her emotions; she didn't even hear them. Rather, she merely continued to thrash about with her hands on her head, as if it were trying to burst open. Eventually, she toppled over onto her side, drawing her knees up to her chest and screaming. "Too... much sorrow... too much... pain!"

Just then, the bodies... started to move. It was subtle at first, a twitch of the fingers, a blink of the eyes. But then, they began to rise up slowly, moaning and screeching as they stood up and stretched their limbs. Within moments, the Titans were surrounded by a horde of sentient withered corpses, all of which began to close in on them.

"Holy motherf-!" Cyborg shouted, his phrase being cut off by the sound of his sonic blaster tearing through a group of the walking dead nearby.

"Oh god, zombies," Beast Boy groaned. "Why'd it have to be zombies?" He then transformed into a large Ankylosaurus, a heavily armored dinosaur. There was no telling if these were actual zombies, but all the movies said that being bitten turned you into one, so best to turn into something that couldn't be bitten.

"Titans, fall back!" Nightwing stated, as one of Starfire's starbolts blasted several of the husks backwards. He took out several with his batons and then started moving back towards the entrance. "Neal, grab Raven!"

Sarah moved with Nightwing, sending out a powerful shockwave from her fingertips and sending a group of husks through a concrete wall. What the hell was this?! Zombies?! Her first day as a Titan and they were battling zombies?! What were the chances of that?!

God this was creeping Neal out. First there were all the bodies that looked like they had been withered for the past twenty years, and now Raven was freaking out like he had never seen her before. She was always the most stoic of all the Titans, to see her express this level of negative emotions was definitely a bad thing that caused Neal to be concerned. Of course, his concern was about to switch to a different topic.

It was Cyborg yelling that first got his attention. Neal quickly turned to see that the bodies were starting to get up. "Seriously?", Neal said in part concern and part fear. He thought they looked like zombies but he wasn't being serious about it! "Damn it", he muttered. He wasn't quite sure how illusions would work on things that didn't have any sort of self preservation mechanism. He'd have to try though. He quickly imagined what he wanted to appear before trying to force the zombies to see it. He tried to create a wall of fire between the Titans and them, hopefully allowing them at least some time to get away or form a new plan.

"On it!", Neal said as he quickly grabbed Raven and picked her up. He wasn't sure if she was going to thrash around or fight at all. He just grabbed her as quickly as he could and ran like hell. Thankfully Raven was probably the lightest out of any of the Titans. He could carry her and still run. He quickly made his way with the others, following Nightwing's order to retreat.

When they made it out of the mall, Nightwing started to alert all the police officers to start sealing off all the exits. They couldn't let a zombie horde escape from the mall and into the city. Well, if they were zombies. But even if they weren't, they couldn't let... whatever those things were escape. Especially if there was still a way that they could be helped, though it wasn't looking very good at the moment. He doubted their bodies were still functioning normally, even if they were up and moving.

"What the hell is going on in there?" the police captain asked, as his men to lock all the mall entrances.

"Honestly? I have no idea," Nightwing admitted. "You're not the only one who hasn't seen anything like that before. You know all those withered bodies? They got up and started attacking."

The police captain just sort of stared at him in disbelief. "Uh...seriously?" Nightwing only nodded. "I... see."

Meanwhile, the other Titans were busy examining Raven, who seemed to have calmed down now, though she was drenched in sweat. Laying on the ground, hood pulled back, she stared blankly upwards, breathing in deeply as if exhausted. Sarah knelt nearby, hands on her knees, wondering what had caused Raven to freak out like that. In all her time there, she'd never seen Raven show that much emotion at one time.

"Raven? How are you feeling?" Starfire asked, standing over her and waving a hand in front of her face.

"And what was that meltdown all about?" Beast Boy asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's like you went all crazy for a minute."

Eventually, Raven seemed to calm down enough to come back to her senses, looking up at all of them and swallowing. "Souls... no souls..." she squeaked out, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Those people. Everyone in there... their souls were gone from their bodies... but they were still nearby... they cried out... they were in so much pain."

Neal was right next to Sarah as they both looked over Raven, he was crouched down into more of a squatting position rather than kneeling like Sarah was. He just wanted to be able to get up quickly should the need arise for it. He probably should have found a way to try to help the police seal the exits, but he couldn't help but feel concern to Raven. After the several weeks of training he had received from her he couldn't help but be worried when she acted this out of character.

As Raven finally revealed what had made her freak out like that Neal couldn't help but let his mouth hang open a bit in shock. Thankfully his helmet concealed hos big of an idiot this made him look. He wasn't dumb enough to question if such a thing was possible after all he had seen, but he had to admit that he wanted some sort of explanation. "No souls? How could something like that even happen though?", he asked curiously.

If someone was able to do this, than they needed to be stopped. This kind of thing didn't happen by chance after all.

"Soul stealing, huh?" Cyborg said, thinking. "Shit, could be any number of freaks we've come across before. Or it could be something completely new. We'll have to investigate into this further... Raven, you said that you still felt the souls nearby? Maybe we can find them and find some clues about who or what stole them in the first place."

"I can't..." Raven responded, shaking her head. "I cannot go back in there. It is... too much." She shuddered a little and held herself, closing her eyes.

"Well... I guess we can always fight through the zombies and wander around aimlessly until we find something?" Beast Boy suggested with a shrug.

"I wouldn't quite put it that way..." Cyborg said, glancing back at Beast Boy. "But we're going to have to get back in there either way and look for clues. I'll go fill in the boss. You guys hang tight."

When he was gone, Sarah looked up at Neal. "Who would... take people's souls? Such a thing... it's horrifying. What kind of twisted mind could do that?"