Empty spaces fill me up with holes
Distant faces with no place left to go
Without you within me I can't find no rest
Where I'm going is anybody's guess…

Donna looked at the picture of Kyle and wept softly. It was hard, no… difficult for her to believe he was truly gone. Her heart was broken into a million pieces and for the second time in her life, she had lost someone she had given her heart to and like the time before she felt…incomplete.

I try to go on like I never knew you
I'm awake but my world is half asleep
I pray for this heart to be unbroken
But without you all I'm going to be is incomplete

Roy clutched Lian close as he sat on his sofa and watched her sleep silently and peacefully. He lightly brushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead. Things felt so out of control with Gar’s death and now with Vic holding on by a thread. It made Roy really look at his life and be thankful for what he had. He just hoped the Titans could move on despite how incomplete they felt.

Voices tell me I should carry on
But I am swimming in an ocean all alone
Baby, my baby, it's written on your face
You still wonder if we made a big mistake

Dick lounged about in his apartment. He was visibly restless by the death of Gar and the news of Vic. He clenched handfuls of his black locks and messed up his hair as he looked up at the clock which read three a.m. He had an early start in the morning and then the team was going to do some exploring of the Tower to make sure it was safe. So he leaned back in his bed and prayed he would get some sleep despite how incomplete he felt.

	Protecting Our Future Incomplete
The Titans annual 2006 - September, Year Four	by Mick Edwards

The  Titans

NIGHTWING Dick Grayson

CYBORG Victor Stone

STARFIRE

RAVEN

ARGENT Toni Montelli

ARSENAL Roy Harper

Vic quivered in his bed and the EKG showed spikes of brainwave activity before slightly faltering. Doctor Hoover watched this and made notes of it. She then laid her clipboard down and looked at the time. She was used to pulling all-nighters but usually they didn’t involve the life of a patient. She turned to look at Vic’s resting form and noticed that the gold sheen was dying from his technis prosthetics but she wasn’t sure if that was a good sign.

She dialed a number on her phone and a voice came on the end.

“Hello?”

“Is this Dr. Myers?”

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Dr. Myers, I understand you have studied Doctor Niles Caulder’s research on robotic prosthetics and if I recall correctly, Dr. Caulder performed a full body procedure with a patient.”

“Yes, but what is your point?” Myers asked.

“I have a patient who’s an unusual case and I’m calling you first because I think you are one of the people I’m going to need to help save his life.”

“What’s the patient’s prognosis?”

“His organics are rejecting alien parasitic prosthetics.”

“I don’t think I understand what you are saying. Could you send fax me a file because right now I’m busy.”

“Doctor, I don’t think the patient has much longer. His EKG results are showing erratic brain activity.”

Myers was silent for a moment before answering, “Where are you?”

“Manhattan, Starlabs.”

“I’ll take the next flight out. Have everything you’ve compiled so far ready for me when I get there.”

“Understood,” Doctor Hoover said as she hung up. She then picked up the receiver and dialed a different number.

“Hello?”

“Roy, can you get me Mr. Irons phone number. I think your friend is taking a turn for the worse.”

“Good god, I’ll see if I can get in touch with him through a friend. Doc, do what you can.”

“You know I will.”

Doctor Hoover hung up and then sat there, trying to think of who else she could call.

Titans Tower…

Kory looked around the tower with Kara beside her. Both of them decided to examine the tower themselves since the others were no shows so far. As they looked through the hall of heroes, Kory’s green eyes looked upon the statue of Gar.

“You miss him, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Kory said as she turned away, fighting back a tear.

“I wish I had gotten to know him better.”

“I think you would have liked him, Kara.”

“Was he really as girl-crazy as Roy said?”

“Yeah, he would chase anything wearing a skirt.”

The two of them stood there admiring the statue and Kory knelt before it and began to pray for his wandering soul. Kara knelt beside her and joined Kory in her prayer.

Star Labs…

Toni kept shifting in her bed uncomfortably. All she could think about was Beast Boy being dead and the remark Roy made. She wasn’t as young as he thought she was. It was rude of him to make that remark, but then… he really does mean well. She rolled over to find a spectral image of Gar and she screamed.

She backed away as far as she could on the bed. She noticed it wasn’t doing anything, but laying there. Apparently sleeping like a normal person. But could ghosts sleep? She didn’t want to find out. She got into the chair next to her bed and, despite being slightly freaked out by the ghost’s presence, nodded off rather fast.

Ethon Enterprises, Times Square, grand opening…

Incomplete…That’s how Charles Parker feels despite how he’d turned his life around. He’d gone from a surfer bum to a very wealthy and influential businessman. But despite all the success he’d had, he could never escape his emptiness and loneliness. As he took a drink of his bourbon, he looked over the sea of people and wondered just how many actual important people show up at this grand opening.

His company, Ethon enterprises had taken stock and lead the race to get the first working interplanetary space shuttle ready. Already, his staff had effectively designed what could only be called the Javelin seven. It was the first and only working prototype they had made so far, Charles figured was probably a mixed blessing in disguise.

As he hobnobbed with local, important figures, a projectile came sailing his way and he narrowly evaded it. He looked behind him to find a pen stuck into the Mayor’s chest. The mayor looked at the pen that was driven deep into his heart and fell over onto some crowd members behind him. People started panicking and running rampant. Ellis noticed this, but made another shot at Charles by flinging a shuriken at him, only for it to strike the back of the neck of the semi-retired pop star Lesley Steers.

“Goddamit,” Ellis swore under his breath.

He made himself scarce as the police fanned the crowd for the killer, namely him. But he was already gone.

Trigon’s dimension…

Raven sat on her bed, looking into the mirror that served as a doorway to earth. She had watched the events unfold that led to Gar’s death and she wondered if she had been there, could they have saved his life? Trigon strode in unannounced and stared at her with his glowing eyes.

“Something troubles you, I see.”

“Like you care,” Raven said as she looked up at him with a glint of a tear in her eyes.

“It is true. I do not care for your friends or anybody.”

“Then why do you want me to stay here? What purpose does it serve?”

“It serves a purpose that I will reveal in due time. But for now, enjoy whatever comforts my palace’s magic can provide.”

Trigon walked out and closed the door behind him leaving Raven to her thoughts.

I don't mean to drag it on,
But I can't seem to let you go
I don't wanna make you face this world alone
I wanna let you go (alone)

The Pyramid Club…

Andrew Blackthorne looked at newspaper clippings of the Titans dating all the way back to ten years ago. His eyes remained observant of the youths that were in the clippings and his interest seemed focused on the ones centered in the middle. From right to left in the center of the picture was Nightwing, Cyborg, Arsenal, and Raven. The very last one on the end was the former actor Garfield Logan who had been dubbed Beast Boy. Blackthorne sat that picture aside as he looked at obituary of the young actor and took a drink of his martini.

“To die so young,” Blackthorne mused.

He sat the obituary down and made his way to the center of his bedroom and pressed his palm against a flat fingerprint scanner. The audible hum let him know that his access was granted and he rode an elevator down to a subbasement level.

When the elevator stopped and Blackthorne got out, he heard the sound of someone crying out in pain. Those sounds made Blackthorne smile as he followed them deeper into the lower parts of the complex. The lower parts of the Pyramid club was built like a crypt with all kinds of booby traps that would kill any unwanted visitors and only Adam Blackthorne knew the secrets.

Well, that was until Andrew discovered them through the Intel he had gathered on Blackthorne and his subordinate. The crypt was layered with ancient hieroglyphics which made Andrew curious as to their origins. Since he had assumed some control over Adam Blackthrone’s fortune through very covert and subversive means. He had privately hired the best archeologists in the world to examine them.

Not a one of them could decipher their meanings or where in Egypt they were made. In honesty, it mattered little to Andrew now as he opened up a secret room where a balding brown haired man dangled from a chain over a pit of boiling liquid. He was an important figure for everything Andrew had planned so far. As Andrew walked into the room, he regarded his prisoner with a smile.

“How’s it going?”

The man hanging over the boiling liquid said nothing. He merely regarded Andrew’s presence with hatred in his eyes. Andrew scoffed at his prisoner’s heated glares and took his jacket off and laid it upon a brown chair to the right of entry point.

“So, you don’t have the stomach for small talk eh?”

The brown haired man spit in Andrew’s face, he turned away from the prisoner while wiping the spit from his face. He then struck the prisoner with a vicious punch to the face and left him spitting out blood.

“You will respect me.”

The prisoner looked Andrew back in the eyes and smiled with blood running down his teeth.

“Fuck you.”

Andrew struck him again and again and again. Until the brown haired prisoner just hung there coughing and gasping for breath. Andrew slicked back his hair and held up his prisoner’s chin. A laugh escaped his lips as he regarded the beaten look on the prisoner’s face.

“You will talk. It’s only a matter of time.”