A/N: All righty. This is a collaboration between me and my good fellow author friend Jonathon in an attempt to write our own Teen Titans fanfic. Shadowflame is my character and Wynter is Jonathon’s. YOU ARE FOREWARNED: The usual characters (ie: the Jump City Titans and the Titans East team) are all secondary. They will not figure prominently, and will very infrequently appear. (Don’t worry, they will appear occasionally.) This is our story with our characters. You don’t like it? Too bad.

A/N 2: All this happens prior to every episode of the Teen Titans aired. A fair bit of this is based on the show, but bits of comic knowledge may seep in. Oh, and a note: There is a bit of a glitch: The Titans East characters are mentioned, but never as a team. I’m not sure how that worked out, but if I figure it out, I’ll tell you.

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"And what would you know about my butt?" - Shadowflame

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City of Angels was everything but what its name implied. A city rife with crime and violence, hatred and confusion, it was not the best place to have a life but it was good for those whose lives were in the superhero business. Gotham, Metropolis, and Jump City were no longer the only places where those of unusual talents were needed, and this was why this young woman was found on top of a large building, looking out over the ocean. Her long hair fell in her face, beginning black but growing, as it grew down, into the flames of Hell. A silver mask hid her eyes from the world and consequently hid the look of hopelessness in them as well. A black cape riffled gently around her slender figure, making her seem the very incarnation of her alias.

"I begin to doubt that Robin expected this when he sent me here," she said softly to herself. Robin, the leader of the Teen Titans, the one who had created this branch of said group, and the only one to give a damn about who she really was since…well, since she found her powers, really. All relatives dead or ignoring any connection to her, Robin had brought her under his wing (no pun intended) and shown her that there was a better way to live than hiding in the shadows she had begun to call family. Now she found herself the viceroy of the tertiary branch to the Teen Titans. There were only two of them, and the other was nowhere to be found for the moment. This did not bother Shadowflame; Wynter could take care of himself well enough.

"He’s probably taking care of that disturbance…over there," she said to herself. Talking to the air had become a common occurrence lately. She didn’t know what had started it, but it seemed to calm her down. Shadowflame looked down at her gloves, silver originally but tarnished from battle and use.

"When did I lose Jessica…? I do not remember the transition…but she is no longer here. I am Shadowflame…and no more." She looked up to the stars, the dark sky reaching out to her as a mother to a child. "The night in the woods killed her…there in the flames that now join me as brothers Jessica Withers died. There in the shadows that hide me now as saviors…did that frail poet of a girl perish." A paper fluttered in front of her eyes and she grabbed it to read the text on it.

"To the end I bore this pain and I carried this rejection/The tear killed my soul via the wound from your hate/And now I find freedom through my heart’s death." She crumpled the paper and tossed it down to the ocean below. "Weak words written by a foolish girl…" The Night Flame sighed and looked down to her crossed arms again as she leaned over the railing on the roof. "Where is that boy…?"

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"Freeze!" Wynter yelled out at the gang members who, just a moment before, had been brawling with each other in the middle of the street. The teen superhero fell into a cool pose and, quite intentionally, let his long, dark blue jacket flutter dramatically behind him, revealing the black jumpsuit he wore underneath it.

"Yo, Red!" the gang leader wearing a blue bandana called out to his red counterpart. "What we gonna do ‘bout him?"

"Let’s blast him!" The two people who had started the gang fight had now suddenly joined forces to battle a common enemy. They reached for their guns…

"I thought I told you to freeze!" Wynter pushed back his jacket and whipped out the two guns hanging from his hips.

ZA-ZAP!

The two gang leaders’ torsos were immediately covered in cold ice that effectively pinned their arms to their sides. Unfortunately, the frosty solid didn’t do anything to block their vocal chords.

"What are you waiting for?" the red bandana wearing gang leader half screamed. "Get him!"

The other teens reached for their guns as well, everything from sawed off shotguns to pistols. There were even a few hi-tech lasers pistols among them.

Meanwhile, Wynter had been grinning broadly.

"I love when that happens," he said mostly to himself. "The irony is – dah!"

The hero dove to the side as he noticed all the guns pointed at him. He heard the bullets and laser beams whiz by and ricochet off the concrete as he flung himself though the air. But before gravity brought him back down to earth, he aimed his two ice pistols at the ground and pulled their triggers. Blue energy shot out of the barrels and Wynter was catapulted into the air by two columns of ice.

When he was perhaps twenty feet in the air, he pushed himself off his makeshift platform and spun down towards his attackers. He kicked one in the face with his black, silver buckled combat boot, turned one hundred and eighty degrees and planted his second boot into another’s chest.

"Cool off," he smirked as he landed in a crouch between the two fallen gang members.

He heard a shotgun cock behind him.

"!" He leapt up, back-flipped and planted both feet into the gunman’s chest. Wynter turned and whipped another sneaking up on him on the head with the butt of his pistol. The kid went down hard.

"You ought to put some ice on that…" Wynter winked at him before he turned to the other gang members who were still on their feet. "Isn’t this the part where you run away?"

Suddenly the members left all burst into flame and those that had been frozen in place were, of course, de-thawed and then burnt. They ran off in the general direction of the ocean. Wynter looked up and saw, just barely in the shadows, the Night Flame standing there, no real expression on her face, hair fluttering ever so slightly in the wind.

"Showoff," Wynter grumbled. Shadowflame just looked up at him and turned her back toward the front of the alley.

"Come on. Any crime here now can wait until morning. I feel something brewing…we may need our sleep." She began to walk away.

"Why do you have to be so frickin’ serious all the time?" Wynter grumbled, but then he looked thoughtfully up the street. "And why do people always run when they’re on fire? Don’t they know it doesn’t help?"

"……….." The only response he got was the steady, measured clicking of Shadowflame’s boots against the concrete street. Muttering under his breath, he scampered off after her.

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When they returned, Shadowflame’s communicator went off. She sighed and picked it up, flipping it open to reveal Robin’s face. "Robin…what can I do for you?"

"I’ve been trying to get a hold of the two of you for a while now. Where were you?"

"Wynter was off freezing bad guys and I was finding him. I neglected to bring my communicator with me. What can I do for you?"

"There’s going to be a third Titan around you some time soon. Her name’s Brittaria…she’s a healer. I’d keep her here because she seems to get along with Starfire, but I think Raven would kill her." Shadowflame cracked a slight smirk. "Maybe you and Wynter will have better luck with her."

"Perhaps. We should expect her when?"

"In a few days." Shadowflame sighed. "What’s wrong?" Robin asked.

"What about Aqualad and his group?"

Robin shrugged. "I figured they had enough already. If you want, drop him a line. Shadowflame, something’s bothering you more than just a new Titan. Anything you want to talk about?"

Shadowflame allowed a small smile. "Feeling a little separated from society. I’ll get over it." Robin gave her a sympathetic smile. "How are things going there?"

"Tell Robin I said hey!" Wynter piped up.

Shadowflame glanced up at Wynter and then back down to the communicator. "Wynter says hello."

Robin grinned. "Hey Wynter," he called back to the hero. Robin looked around him. "Well, Cyborg and Beast Boy are playing some game and not paying attention to a thing around them, and therefore are probably fine. Starfire and Brittaria are discussing Tamaranean culture and food, and therefore I have no idea what they’re talking about. I haven’t seen Raven recently, so she’s probably in her room reading. Oh, no…here she is."

"Who are you talking to?" Shadowflame could hear Raven’s voice ask.

"Shadowflame…you want to talk to her?" Apparently Raven had nodded because Robin looked back down to Shadowflame. "Raven’s going to talk, so I’ll say goodbye and she can just disconnect when you’re done. You’ll be fine, Shadow. You know how to get a hold of me if you need me." Shadowflame nodded and the picture moved to show Raven, looking as enthused as always.

"Tell Raven I said hey," Wynter piped up from whatever he was looking at on the table.

"The same greetings to him," Raven said in her typical monotone.

"She says hello," Shadowflame called over.

"It’s not every day we get a call from you, Shadowflame. Is something wrong?" Raven asked.

"No…Robin called me to say that Brittaria was coming to be with us."

Raven’s eyes narrowed. "The sooner that Brittaria and Starfire are as far away from each other as possible, the better. I can’t stand much more talk about shpelzik and glorthog and belsnik and whatever else they natter about." Shadowflame smirked. "Have fun with her."

"I’ll be fine. Wynter has been good practice." Starfire appeared in the background of the picture, waving frantically.

"Hello Shadowflame! It is most joyous to see you again! I am afraid I have been feeling the sick that one undergoes when separated from a dear friend for too long of a time, but seeing you again has allayed my every concern! I presume that you are feeling well?"

"Yes…I’m fine, Starfire." Raven shooed the Tamaranean off the screen and then came back.

"We’ll have to find a time to get the Teen Titans all together at some point. You look a little secluded." Shadowflame hid a smile at Raven’s observation. The two had always seemed to have an unseen connection that caused Raven to suggest the very thing she wanted. Though not exactly the social butterfly, being only around Wynter had made Shadowflame think more and more often about the times before she’d been shipped off. They hadn’t been many, but they were fun.

"Are you getting along any better with Wynter?" Raven’s question broke through her reverie.

"I suppose. We don’t talk much but…he’s a good fighter and decent company."

Raven nodded. "We’ll talk another time. I’ll see what I can convince Starfire to convince Robin to do about a reunion of sorts."

"Until then." The communicator clicked off and Shadowflame tossed it aside. Casting a thoughtful look toward Wynter, there was a long pause before anyone said anything.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked.

"I’m just charging up my ice pistols." He shrugged. "It wouldn’t be cool if I pulled the triggers and nothing happened, right?"

"…I suppose not," Shadowflame replied, her voice detached.

"Why do you have to be so serious all the time? That was a joke, ya know! Ice pistols, cool…get it?"

Silence.

"………."

"………."

"…Ah," Shadowflame finally said.

"For crying out loud!" Wynter sighed. "You have to learn to loosen up some! Don’t you ever chill out and have fun?" He paused. "You DO know what fun is, right?"

Shadowflame’s eyes flashed dangerously. "Yes," she said sharply. "I know what fun is. I had plenty of fun. But being locked up in a tower with some yammering…YOU has drained a bit of it out. Forgive me for not exactly wanting to open right up and be ‘buddies’. No one’s ever understood…not since…" She stopped herself and walked quickly out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Wynter blinked and stared after her. "……..Pssh, women."

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In her room, Shadowflame sat at her desk, hands twisted up in her hair. "How…how could I have almost said that…? Such foolishness…being so tied up in the past…" She glanced up at a picture she had been given right before she came to City of Angels again. It was a rough sketch she thought Raven had done of the Teen Titans she knew. Several in the picture Shadowflame had never met, but Raven had told her that the only one she really should know was the man standing next to her in the picture, someone by the name of Aqualad. It made Shadowflame smile to think of the look Raven had gotten on her face, so desperately trying to hide it, when she’d mentioned the marine marvel. The likenesses were eerie, and it was almost amusing to see herself on the opposite side of Raven and Wynter next to Beast Boy. The groups had never been all together… She reached out to the picture to brush her fingers against one of the figures.

"No one’s ever understood anything about me…and no one’s really cared…not since you, Robin." She pulled her hand away as if she’d burned it on the likeness. "You’re being foolish," she chided herself. "He is your commander, and he is on the other side of the country. He did his job, nothing more. You’re dwelling in the past again!" Growing angrier and angrier with herself, she stood up, her hair spinning around her. Grabbing the nearest object, she shrieked some incoherent pronouncement and threw it as hard as she could at the wall. The glass vase shattered. She fell to her bed, head in her hands again. A moment later, Shadowflame heard footsteps outside of her door.

"Shadowflame…?" As if it could have been anyone else, it was Wynter’s voice.

"What is it, Wynter?" she called back.

"Are you okay? I heard something break." Shadowflame sighed, but said nothing. "Can I come in?" he added after a moment.

"I don’t care."

Wynter walked in, carefully avoiding the broken glass on the floor. "What happened in here?"

"Nothing."

Wynter raised an eyebrow. "The vase just shattered on its own."

"Yes."

He sighed. "Shadowflame…sorry if I seem like a push, but…what were you going to say out there?"

Her eyes slowly came up to meet his. "One person has understood me. One, and I only intend for one to do such."

"What makes that one person so special?"

Shadowflame looked back to the picture of the Titans. "He saw my eyes…"

Wynter glanced over at the picture on her desk, thinking. "And you saw his?" Shadowflame was silent. Wynter shook his head and smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "Listen…there’s some major disturbance over on West Eighth…we should go make them chill before they do any more damage." Shadowflame simply nodded and stood, walking out. Wynter sighed. "That was another joke!" he called after her, following close on her heels. "Get it? Chill? …Never mind…"

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"Muhahahahahah!" the man in the red armor cackled in glee, smashing apart an ATM machine. ‘No one can stop Adonis! I am the greatest!"

"Yo, Tin Man!" a voice called out. "Know what you get when you mix fire and ice?"

The villain turned and saw Wynter and Shadowflame. "Umm…steam?" Adonis guessed.

Wynter blinked and glanced back at his partner before turning back to the villain. "Well, yeah…" he admitted. He suddenly shook his head. "But you also get…you-going-down!" He stuck out his arm and pointed his thumb at the ground.

"No one can take down Adonis!" the villain raged as he charged them. Shadowflame flew out of the way, but Wynter decided to hold his ground. He pulled out his ice pistols…about two seconds too late.

GRIP! SWOOSH!

Wynter found himself flying through the air, tossed by Adonis’ metal muscles. In his tailspin, he somehow found that he was going to hit headlong right into a brick wall. He pivoted his body to where he hit feet first. Then he sprung off and catapulted himself right back at Adonis… and into his fist.

WHAM!

Wynter saw stars.

Meanwhile, Shadowflame had materialized out of a shadow directly behind the armor-clad villain. She held out her hand and fired a fireball at his back. The flame hit Adonis right between the shoulder blades. Adonis stumbled forward, but then he turned on Shadowflame with flashing eyes.

"RAAUAUGH!"

He charged and swung a mechanical fist at her, but the stoic heroine had already sunk back into a shadow.

"Yo, Rustbucket!"

Adonis swiveled around to see Wynter aiming both of his ice pistols at him.

Z-ZAP!

Blue beams erupted from the barrels of the pistols and, a few seconds later, Adonis found himself covered up to his neck in thick, glistening ice. Wynter smirked at the villain as Shadowflame strode over to stand next to him.

"It looks to me…" He winked. "…that we just put you on ice!"

Shadowflame could only roll her eyes. "Perhaps if you spent a little less time taunting your enemies, you’d get thrown into fewer walls." She strode forward toward Adonis.

Wynter watched her walk with wide eyes. "Hey, that wasn’t cool at all…and that wasn’t meant to be a joke either!"

Shadowflame had no response. She simply gazed at the trapped villain with a detached gaze. "So. Been a while since your face has shown up around here, Adonis. Last I knew, you were locked up in the Jump City jail."

The armored man glared at her. "No jail is strong enough to hold back Adonis."

"I’m sure," she replied dryly. "Who sprung you? Who are you working for?"

"Adonis works for no one!" He struggled to free himself from his icy prison, but it was to no avail.

Shadowflame sighed slightly. "I am your easiest way out of that ice, Adonis. You have two options. Either you tell me what I need to know and you go to prison on your own two feet, or you go to jail in your ice blob and rust as it melts in prison."

That seemed to silence the villain for a moment. "Adonis works for no one…but he is not the only one around." He paused.

"Go on."

"You will never catch him! He is stronger, faster, and smarter than anyone else on the streets! He will bring you down and all the other Titans with you!"

Wynter smirked at Shadowflame. "Is he talking about himself or the other guy?"

Shadowflame glanced back at him. "What?"

Wynter shrugged. "Well, you never know. Adonis always speaks in third person; maybe he’s saying that he’ll take us down."

"………" Shadowflame turned back to Adonis.

"Oh come on, Shadowflame!" came the shout from behind her.

"You’re not going anywhere until I get some answers, metal man," the Night Flame said, completely ignoring Wynter behind her.

"Adonis does not know his name. He never says it."

That made Wynter snort. "Well, that definitely takes Adonis out of the running. He says his name more –"

Shadowflame whirled to face Wynter. "If you make one more cocky comment, you’ll be the next thing I catch on fire," she hissed.

Wynter had no response.

"Make yourself useful and get in contact with the authorities, Wynter. I’ll get him ready to move." As Wynter ambled off to use his comlink, Shadowflame began melting down the ice around Adonis.

Unfortunately, misjudging Adonis’ strength, once to a certain point Adonis simply pushed out with his arms and the ice shattered, sending a shard of it straight at Shadowflame’s face. "Ah!" The shard sliced across her cheek, leaving a bloody gash across her cheek.

"Mwhahahaha! No one defeats Adonis!" Before the girl could react, Adonis had swung one metal fist toward Shadowflame and knocked her into the air.

"Wynter! – oof." The Night Flame collided back first into a wall, knocking the wind out of her. She slid to the ground, one hand to her face and the other to her chest, desperately trying to catch her breath.

Adonis stepped forward to stand over the fallen heroine. He laced his metal gauntlet-clad fists over his head, ready to crush down on her.

"Haugh!"

Adonis looked up. His eyes had just enough time to focus before –

WHAM!

Wynter’s foot slammed right between them. Adonis stumbled back, but he somehow managed to throw a swipe at the hero. Wynter ducked, stood on his hands and

jabbed both feet into his chest. Adonis was thrown back into a car parked on

the curb. Wynter took the time to check on Shadowflame.

"Are you all right?" He asked her.

"Go deal with Adonis. I'll be fine."

"You sure? In case you didn't notice, he came this close to knocking you

out cold!"

"..." Shadowflame glared.

"Ahem, right then." Wynter simpered. "Back to kicking Adonis' butt..."

But when the icy hero looked back up, Adonis was gone.

"What the...? Where'd he go?"

Shadowflame breathed out a frustrated sigh.

"We wouldn't have this problem if you hadn’t wasted so much time on me."

"But you were hurt!" Wynter protested.

"I said I was fine."

Wynter suddenly noticed the cut on her cheek.

"But you're bleeding!"

Shadowflame's hand unconsciously went to her injured cheek.

"It is of no moment." She tried to tell him, but the hero wasn't listening. Instead, he had pulled out a blue bandanna from his coat. She looked at him suspiciously. "What...what are you doing?"

"You're bleeding." He said obviously. "I just thought-" He held up the bandana suggestively.

Shadowflame sighed.

"Wynter, I don't...you shouldn't...we need to..." She sighed again, giving up. "Fine. If you feel it's necessary."

Wynter smirked at her.

"I do," he answered. Then, with a soft touch, he gently wiped away the blood from her cheek.

Shadowflame watched him critically. "It's just a scratch. I'm not going to break if you touch me too harshly."Wynter blushed at that. "Oh...m-my bad..."

Shadowflame rose an eyebrow at him. "Is something the matter?"

"What?" Wynter started a bit. "N-no. I'm cool..."

Shadowflame rolled her eyes from behind her mask.

"I'm sure..." she said dryly. "Then why are you blushing? That would indicate heat."

Wynter blinked...several times. "Now you make a joke?"

Shadowflame gave him her patented glare.

"I asked you a question."

Wynter fought for words for a moment, but then his usual smirk came back. "Ya know, Shadowflame...you're cute when you're angry."

"..." Shadowflame stood up. "If you're quite through, then I recommend we get back to the tower. We need to figure out who Adonis was talking about and maybe figure out where he went, since you so nicely let him get away."

"I let him get away!" Wynter burst out. "As I remember it, he wasn't going anywhere until you decided to melt the ice I had him in!"

"The police weren't going to be able to get him anywhere with the entirety of Antarctica surrounding him. You just about froze the whole street. And might I remind you, you were too busy supposedly 'helping' me to notice that he'd run off!"

"Like you were really helpful! What else did you do except get in my way!"

"How did I get into your way?" Shadowflame flared up. "You never would have gotten a decent shot off on him if I hadn't gotten him to turn and distract him from punching you into walls for two seconds!"

"Oh, yeah?" Wynter came right back. "If it weren't for me, you'd be getting scraped up off the sidewalk right about now!"

"You honestly think I was going to just sit there while he pounded me? I would have gotten away just fine - or did you forget I can melt into the shadows?"

"You just don't want to admit that I saved your little butt!"

Shadowflame's eyebrow raised again. "And what would you know about my butt?"

Wynter started floundering.

"Um...that's not...I mean..." He looked around for some kind of help, only to realize that quite a few citizens were staring at them, watching the whole exchange.

Shadowflame glanced around as well and sank half of her body into a shadow. "We can continue this later. Get back to the tower. Now." And with that, she vanished completely into the shadow.

Wynter ground his teeth together. "Pssh! Why do women have to be so bossy?"

He looked around.

Sweat dropped.

"Um...anyone want autographs...?"