Opening the doors

[robin]

Tim followed the wheelchair-bound red head into the hallway and away from the heroes. He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. This wasn't going to be an easy interaction but Robin had to go through with it. He looked down at his feet and then back to Oracle. Finally, she questioned why he needed to talk to her. Robin sighed once more and glanced back at the door. He had to make sure no one would overhear what they were going to talk about, especially Nightwing.

"What are you hiding, Oracle? You're holding back information regarding the missing heroes. Don't deny it, Babs."

Tim wondered why on Earth Oracle would hold information back from Nightwing while she had feelings for him. At least, he thought she had feelings for him. They had such a confusing history, Tim could never keep up. The only information he got was from Nightwing talking to him about it. Perhaps she was holding the information back for his own safety? Tim would never known and honestly didn't want to. He just wanted to know what the information was.

[Oracle]

Oracle sighed, she should have known better than to keep that hidden. Nightwing may have been too preoccupied to notice, but Tim certainly would have.

"I don't know anything!" She said first, holding up her hands as if to ward off argument. "It's just... a hunch."

She paused, but knew Robin would never be satisfied with that answer, and if somebody was going to know, she prefered it be somebody she trusted.

"Do you honestly believe two of the most powerful superheroes like Trent and Iron man could be stopped by mere government force? And everybody knows how devoted that Pepper is to Stark. The only answer is that one of them betrayed the other two."

She paused before saying, "I didn't say it outright because she and Nightwing are such close friends," She paused for a moment again, swallowing, "But I think it's Trenton. It just fits, but Dick would never believe until he seessolid proof, and even then it could take a while. But if I'm right..."

Bab's trialed off, letting the meaning of what she said sink in. Trenton was dangerous to have as an enemy, and lord knows who she was working for to organize something like this. And her reasons were compleatly her own, a mystery to others.

"But as I say," Oracle finished lamely, "It's just a hunch."

[Dick Grayson]

Dicks mind was spinning as he tried to come up with a multitude of possibilities to explain the current situation. Anything to negate the obvious. He had been struggling to map his mind around the concept when Gwen suddenly spat some harsh words at him. He looked down in surprise at the young redhead. She was eyeing him with a callous suspicion that made even him uncomfortable.

"It won't do to lose my head...", he said softly and calmly as he attempted to refocus. As he was speaking Courtney Whitmore, the star spangled kid herself, walked in. "I'll keep you on standby about that Star...", he said in a hushed tone as he watched the others almost mechanically begin to speak in various tones about the impending scandal.

Nightwing exited the wing after lining up his facts for a few moments. He soon found Barbara, Tim, Ted and Susan Walters. He had caught most of Barbaras speech, and stood in silence unnoticed for several moments.

"No. It's more than a hunch", he said in a cracked voice. He cleared his throat and stepped into the room rather than dawdling by the doorway. "It's almost certain. She's been on a one track path for a while now, I should have..."

He looked up at the powerful computer before them. "She lives in Keystone. Let's see if we can't get some ground support. Flash, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. Oracle, see if you can get a lock on any security camera near here", he finished as he rapidly typed up and address.

[Oracle]

Barbara gasped in shock when she heard that all too familliar voice and spun around in her wheelchair, almost loosing her balance. Her eyes widened when she saw Nightwing standing behind her.

"I'm, so sorry-" She started, reaching out to take his hand. She stopped, though, when he agreed with her, confirming her very fears. As she listened to him, she bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut. There was an empty pit in her stomach, hearing the pain in his voice as he practically condemned his best friend.

She nodded heavily when he took the lead, and she turned and wheeled back into the main room where Ted and She-Hulk were working. Immedietly she opened a channel to her now empty 'office' in Gothem. In no time, she had transferred the camera views to the Watchtower, more specifically, the one's in Keystone.

Without turning around, she said, "I've contacted Batman, he was with Spoiler at the time. I told him what was going on, where to come, but I've heard nothing since. Apart from that, though, I dont' know about any others."

Typing furiously, four small screens blinked into life, showing basic areas of Keystone city. "These are the most commonly used plaza's. Most everybody passes by here sometime during the day, you have to to get anywhere. The camera's will pick up anybody with powers. Let's give her a bit, and if that doesn't work, we'll try to place some bait."

[Laurie]

Wallflower had lived up to her name. While everyone chatted, the tiny blonde had hidden in a corner of the room and wept out of fear. She had barely even seen the warning sent out - she was an X-Man, and not usually tied into the superhero channels, but she had spotted it by accident while out. She didn't even know the superhero who had received it...she'd just looked and there it was...and it had terrified her. She had run until she found a hangar to hide in, and from there had witnessed some pretty awful things.

People would wonder what she had been doing in that part of town. Laurie herself had wondered. But as the adults nearby began to chatter and talk, Laurie knew she had to come forth. She had come up, stowing away on the ship. And before she had come up...

"Excuse me," she said softly, coming into the group. Her face was red and she had never felt more like a child in her life. "I know what happened to the people you're talking about."

[Dick Grayson]

"Don't be", Dick said in a stern tone as he looked down at Barbara. He didn't need any pity at the time. He watched the cameras carefully and then bit his lip in thought. "We might need more than Batman and Spoiler if they're going to go up against Trenton and any accomplices she might have. She was always more of an order taker than a leader, really", he offered the information up freely.

It was a few minutes into gazing at the screens that Dick heard a small and shaky voice pipe up. An unfamiliar one, at that. He turned sharply to see a frightened looking young blond girl. Nightwing looked to the others to see if they knew the stranger, but soon turned back to the girl.

"Tell us what happened."

[Laurie]

Laurie looked around at the gathered people, aware she had attracted the attention of the likely leader. Her face red, tears of shame trembling at the corners of her eyes, she began to speak in a clear but soft voice. "I w-was frightened, so I was hiding. N-no one saw me. But a brunette and a b-blonde woman came out together, talking. And the brunette did something to the blonde's neck and the blonde called for someone named Tony and fell down. And then a man all covered in spots like a Dalmatian and a really ugly man in red came through what looked like a portal."

She stopped, trying to think. She knew these names, the names of the people. But she couldn't think of them! She'd seen them in public before and for some reason she was completely drawing a blank! "i...think the Dalmatian called the ugly man Pool or something. But then another man came out and tried to save the blonde...I think that man was the Tony she'd called for, it looked like Tony Stark...and then this really horrible, really big man in armor just...hit him on the back of the neck..." her voice trembled and broke. The man had been huge and scary and he'd just hit Tony in the back like it was nothing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her mind clearing.

"Everyone left...some of them through the portal, some on foot. The huge man took Tony Stark and the Dalmatian took....Pepper. The brunette ran away." She was silent and then added: "I was so scared. I'm sorry I didn't say anything before."

Her pheromones were working, slipping from her, feelings of shame and sadness, and she struggled to reel them in. She didn't want or need these people feeling sorry for her. She just needed them to find the missing people.

[x23]

Laura had made her way into the room where almost everyone was at talking what was going to happen when everyone else got there. She was surprised to see Laurie there talk a lot with a red tear streaked face. She walked over to where Laurie and gave her a little wave she didn't want to scare the poor girl anymore then what she most likely already had done at the school. She knew most of the other students where scared of her when the school was under attack by the Reavers and she killed everyone who crossed paths with her it kind of freaked everyone out that she was able to do it so easily.

[robin]

Tim listened to Oracle's theory and he couldn't help but agree with her. Trenton was a dangerous and confusing person. Her relationship with Nightwing would prove to be a downfall but they would get through it. Robin went to reply to what Oracle said when an all too familiar voice rang out from behind Oracle. She heard it too and turned around, nearly falling over. Robin hoped he didn't hear much but he apparently heard most of it. Robin sighed in his mind and let them talk it out.

Then, a blonde woman came up to Nightwing and said she knew where the Pepper, Trenton, and Tony were. Robin perked up and listened to her story. He listened carefully and tried to think about what she was explaining. The people all sounded familiar, yet he couldn't put a name to their face. Then, he thought of something. She made it seem like The Spot and Deadpool were in on it with Trenton and two other people. That didn't surprise Robin but he was disappointed, slightly.

"It sounds like you are describing The Spot and Deadpool. I'm assuming the brunette was Trenton and the blonde was Pepper, right Oracle? Do you know anything else about the armored man? It's not ringing any bells."

[Wonder Woman]

"The armored man she's talking about would be Deathstroke." A female voice side from behind the group "I have someone on the inside informing me what Slade's been up to lately." Wonder Woman said as she walked over to the others she knew that both Dick and Tim wouldn't be happy to know it was Ravager that was her informant. She had talked the girl into going back to her father as well as giving her a few things to help her fight her father if it came down to that. "Deathstroke wants Stark to use as his own weapon as well as using S.H.I.E.L.D. to do his dirty deeds." She said.

[robin]

Robin turned around at the sound of another's voice. It was Wonder Woman, the Amazonian Princess. Tim wasn't surprised to see her here but she was surprised that she had someone working for Slade as a double agent. Robin soon realized who she must have gotten. His teeth clenched and his hands balled into fists. How could she trust Slade's own daughter to work as a double agent?! She reckless and she can't be trusted.

"Ravager!? You got Slade's own daughter to work as a double agent?! It's nice that we got some inside information but from Ravager?! She can't be trusted, Wonder Woman. You of all people should know that."

So, Slade wanted Tony's armor along with S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment to help him take down the Titans. Robin knew they would take down Slade before he could get to the Titans but he had to be prepared just in case. After this meeting, Robin planned to alert all the Titans about an upcoming threat. They would need new equipment and some better fighting skills to take down Slade plus Stark armor. Not to mention weapons and such from S.H.I.E.L.D.

[Oracle]

Oracle listened, slightly bemused, to the people come at a startleing rate into the conversation. Suddenly their position of no information on the missing supers and open to whatever attack came next was changed into the right hand. They had information, and for the moment Oracle didn't much care if it came from the Devil himself as long as they had it. There would be plenty of time to worry about Ravager later.

Babs wheeled easily over to Laurie. The girl looked bad, she had been crying and looked scared out of her wits. Well, who wasn't? Taking the girl's hands, Oracle smiled as comfortingly as possible.

"It's okay, don't worry." She said, "You did right, and you've helped us more than I can say. Thank you."

Then moving back to the camera's she happened to look up at Dicks face. She knew that expression well. It was his I'm-strong-and-I-can-deal-with-this-on-my-own face.

"If Trenton has, or had, anything tackable on her I might be able to use that to start a trail. It might help us with the background information. I'm sure we would all like an explination."

"Once we have a lock on either Trenton or Pepper we can send in somebody to deal with Spot and Deadpool. Deathstroke will be more difficult, but if Ravager is really truly on our side we'll have one up on him." She turned to Tim, "I know you don't like it, I don't particularly either, but we've got to take what we've got."

[emmafrost]

Flash appeared with Pepper in his arms in the trainspotter room "Welcome to the Watch tower." He said as he placed Pepper on her feet before he pulled his mask back "The others are that way." He said pointing to where everyone was at "And I'm getting something to eat be right back." He said as he ran off and came back a few seconds later with an his arms full of hot dogs and one in his mouth. Pulling a dog out of the pile he had in his arms with out dropping one he offered it to Pepper he didn't want to be rude after all.