A girl of barely fourteen walked alone along a stony cavern corridor. The air was moist and cool and the sound of dripping and gentle splashing water echoed back and forth until one could not identify its origin. She walked past several off shoots of the main cavern, and though most were dark and quiet one or two had vague lights and voices or other noises coming from down them, adding to the reverberating noise. Thick power cords ran out of these passages to join the mess that ran through the main corridor, supplying power to the entire cave system. 

The cavern path narrowed until it ended in a vertical crevice that the girl could barely fit through. The worn edges of the crevice showed how often this path saw traffic, though it didn't seem like many could fit through, and the space beyond was black as pitch. She had to step over the lip of the crevice with one leg, and turn her slim body sideways to slip through.

As soon as she passed the crevice, soft glowing orbs lit themselves, revealing a vaguely round chamber on the other side. The orbs were bulbs set into the walls, and their light reflected off of a deathly still pool in the center of the chamber. The power cords from the main corridor outside continued in here, most branched off and ran along the walls to power the lights, and a few vague machines that lay in the chamber, but one particularly thick rubber cord ran straight to the center and disappeared into the pool. The girl followed this cord to the pool and pulled a heavy glass ball from her pocket. She stretched her hand out and dropped it into the pool. There was a splash, and she watched it sink quickly out of sight into the darkness. 

There was a moment of silence as the ripples in the pool bounced off of the edges, but then something could be seen rising swiftly from the darkness under the water. In mere seconds it breached the surface, a scaly gray and blue hand, holding the glass orb. A head and shoulders followed the hand, swimming to the edge of the pool and putting the glass sphere down on the stone ground. 

The thing from the depths of the pool spat a great deal of water form its mouth and then spoke in a deep voice. "Caracal. I trust there has been no problem, and you have only disturbed me to tell me you are about to depart."

"Yes," the girl spoke, looking down at him as he tread water in the pool. "As usual, there was no end to volunteers for a task, but I have weeded the weak and selected only the best. They have their target and are going over the maps and schematics now. They are hungry to prove themselves to you, but you know I have my doubts about this lot."

"They will do fine," he cut across her. "I have no doubts. You have [i]your[/i] team ready as well?"

"I do." 

"Excellent, I trust your timing will be impeccable."

~~~

The Titans Tower was quiet this morning. The sun was coming up to shine through the numerous windows, casting long shadows in rooms whose lights were still off. The main room has but one occupant, who sat at a computer terminal, his goggles around his neck, and his cloak draped across his chair. He had a bowl of sugary cereal and milk in front of him as he studied the words on the screen, and a can of energy drink was nearby to keep him awake. In point of fact, this was not his preferred breakfast, but nobody had been grocery shopping, and the dishes had yet to be done since yesterday. 
But these would have to wait until later, as one of his news-trolling computer programs came up with a blip about an event on a police scanner. He took a last sip from his can as he stood up and grabbed his cape. An alarm flashing and buzzing was already playing, alerting all members of the Titans to assemble in the garage. 

Little Brother walked quickly, throwing his cloak over him and snapping it in place.