A/N: Hello, everyone! Like the summary says, this just kinda popped into my head and I wrote it out. I've always loved the dynamic between Slade and Raven, and I wished I could see more after the Trigon arc, so I did this. This is actually my first fanfic, so any comments/criticisms would be greatly appreciated. Just don't be a dick about it, okay?
It was a peaceful, pleasant summer morning in Jump City. The sun shone brightly while a gentle breeze blew in from the ocean. No one could resist the allure of a day so full of potential, and it seemed all of Jump City's denizens were flocking to the beach and the boardwalk nearby. The only ones not enjoying such a peaceful day, in fact, were the Teen Titans. Inside a giant tower on an island not far from Jump City, four super teens sit on the couch while a fifth hero paces back and forth in front of them.
"Dude, let us out! You can't keep us here like this. It's tyranny, I tell you. Tyranny!" Beast Boy's whines dissolved into whimpers as he shifted into a floppy eared dog at the stoic leader's feet. Much to the green teen's dismay, no amount of puppy dog eyes were getting through to Robin. Said leader sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, adopting his 'I'm the leader so do as I say' stance in front of the green changeling.
"I'm sorry, Beast Boy, but there have been three Slade sightings in the past two weeks. He's out there somewhere, and we need to catch him before he puts his plans into motion." He looks up from the green dog at his fellow teammates, hoping someone would back him up. Cyborg is the first to speak up.
"I'm with BB, man. No one has seen Slade since we kicked Trigon's butt last year, we've seen are drones. Drones that anyone who found one of his lairs could have reprogrammed and used for themselves. You've kept the team holed up here for almost a week looking for a ghost, Robin, and it's driving us stir crazy." Cyborg puts his hands up placatingly. "I understand how dangerous he he was, and what he's done to you and Raven, especially, but Slade it gone. There's no world domination scheme, no nefarious plans. Just repurposed drones and some wannabe crook."
Raven looks up from her book briefly, looking at her two teammates. Robin and Cyborg have had this argument so many times since Slade came into their lives, by now it was almost a scripted rehearsal. The first few months after the team had banished Trigon from Earth, no one could find hide or hair of Slade. The team had begun to hope that their greatest adversary - and Robin's obsession - were finally gone for good. Then, about ten days ago, a few seconds of blurry security footage with a hunched orange and black figure came to Robin's attention, and it was like Slade had never left. He had tirelessly thrown himself into figuring out the drone's location and purpose, and had ordered the rest of the team to do the same.
"I don't care, Cyborg! If there is even the slightest chance that Slade is still out there, we need to assume the worst and put everything we have into finding him." Both Robin and Cyborg are in each others' faces, growling, each daring the other to throw the first punch. Starfire sees where this is going and tries to calm them both. She hovers over to the two and places a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Friends, please! This violence will not solve anything. Why don't I make everyone a refreshing cup of Globnark Cider, and we can all discuss this calmly?"
Starfire means well, Raven thinks to herself with a small smile, but getting those two to back down is hard enough without the frustration of being stuck inside all week. She might as well be trying to soothe a perpetually screaming brick wall.
As predicted, Starfire's words have no effect on the two Titans, and they continue yelling at each other with ever increasing volume and animosity. In minutes, the living room is destroyed. Birdarangs, insults, and sonic lasers fly through the air, a green goat is screaming while leaping over furniture, and Starfire keeps flitting around the room, trying to calm everyone down and avoid getting her hair singed by Cyborg's sonic cannon in the process.
It quickly becomes apparent to Raven that this is no environment to be reading in, so she closes her book with a quiet thump and starts walking to her room. With the cloud of chaos continuing behind her, she casually leans to the left or right to dodge various goats and projectiles flying through the air. A birdarang narrowly misses her head, slicing through her hair and almost cutting her cheek. Raven clenches her jaw and a low growl escapes her. The pale telepath stops and forces herself to breathe deeply, pushing the unwanted Rage back where it belongs. Unfortunately, she chose to stop near the previously mentioned birdarang, which had lodged itself into the counter near the sink. She was also unable to hear the increasingly frequent beeping over the chaos surrounding her. Less than a second later, an explosion launches dirty dishes, sink water, and all manner of moldy food into the air, most of which lands on Raven, covering her in smelly water and old food.
Frustration fuels Rage, and before she can regain control, her magic rises, unbidden, bathing the room and its inhabitants in black. The room is quiet and still. Aside from Raven, nothing and no one can move, and any sound made by man or machine is consumed by the darkness. Fists clenched and shaking, Raven takes a few seconds to calm down before facing her teammates.
"Breathe in the calm, breathe out the anger. Calm in, anger out. Calm in...anger out." She quietly repeats the phrase like a mantra, and it achieves the desired effect. Although controlling her magic is much easier these days without the constant pull of her father's demonic influence, emotional extremes still force her magic out every once in a while.
Satisfied with her control, Raven turns around and summons a small floating light to fend off the darkness and take stock of the situation. Cyborg was crouched behind the couch, aiming his sonic cannon at Robin, who was mid-leap and throwing another birdarang at the larger teen. Starfire hovered over the two, hands in the middle of patting out a small fire on her head. Beast boy, still in the form of a goat, looked like he was about to dive under the couch, which was now in shambles, fluff and cloth suspended in the air like odd snowflakes. She hadn't stopped time, that much she could sense, but it was clear that no one was going to be able to move until she released the spell. Raven takes advantage of the forced calm and looks at Robin, who happened to be facing her general direction.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Cyborg and Beast Boy are right. You always get like this whenever Slade is concern, and you know very well that you accomplish nothing besides angering your teammates and ruining your health when you get like this. Take a break, enjoy the sun. If it makes you feel better, I will stay behind and keep an eye on everything. If something happens, or if another one of Slade's drones show up, I'll let you know." If it were anyone else, Raven's monotone voice and stoic expression would be mistaken for indifference, but the team knew better. Raven would accept no other course of action.
The seconds stretch out while Raven waits for a response. "Well? Are you just going to sit there or-" a blush creeps across her pale cheeks. "Right. The spell. Sorry." Raven raises her hand, and with a flick of the wrist, gravity and light assume control over the room once more. Robin drops to the ground with a yelp, and the rest of the team right themselves before turning to face Raven, who is still covered in discolored water and food. Cyborg and Beast Boy apologize quietly, and Starfire flies to the nearest bathroom to grab a towel for Raven. She returns a few seconds later, quietly handing her friend the large towel. After wiping as much goo and water off herself as she can, Robin clears his throat to get everyone's attention.
"I...guess a break would do everyone some good." He says this through clenched teeth, and he clearly isn't fond of the idea, but a small part of Robin understands how stressed out everyone is, and how much that can hinder progress. "So, here's the plan: we clean up this mess as much as we can, then we can go spend the day in town while Raven keeps watch at the tower."
Raven nods, happy that everyone agreed with her. "Great. You guys do that, I am going to try and scrub off the smell of old food and dish soap."
"What? Dude, no fair. Why doesn't Raven have to help us clean?" Beast Boy complains, already dreading the effort it will take to clean up the mess without the help of magic.
Raven gives her green friend a deadpan look, raising one eyebrow and gesturing to her cloak, which is caked with what could be either guacamole or moldy applesauce. "I did not start this mess, nor did I do anything to further the damage done here. My entire body is covered in various mysterious substances, and I will probably reek for the next week."
Beast Boy quickly morphs into a bunny and hops onto the edge of the couch. "Pleeeeease, Raven? I'll be your best friend forever!"
With a glare and another sigh, Raven decides to cut him some slack. Anything to get them all out of here as quickly as possible, she thinks to herself. "Fine. How about this?" With another flick of her wrist, a black hole opens up in the floor next to Beast Boy, who scrambles away with a shout. Garbage and debris, seemingly of its own accord, begins flying into the hole. "That should save you a lot of time."
Before they can reply or insist that she stay and help more, Raven phases through the ground and reappears in the bathroom attached to her room. With a cross between a sigh and a groan, Raven takes her clothes off and tosses them in a corner to be taken care of later. The strain of maintaining a portal over such a long distance is already beginning to tire her, but so long as it means emptying the tower that much sooner, Raven doesn't care. Filthy and tense, she turns on the shower, hot as she can stand it, and steps in, allowing herself to relax for a few minutes before getting to work at scrubbing all the filth off her body.
Thirty minutes later, Raven returns to the living room, dressed in sweat pants and a tank top, to find it empty. Her teammates had done a pretty good job at cleaning up the place. They had even swept and gotten rid of the shredded couch, to Raven's mild surprise. Assuming that everyone had begun loading up the T-Car, Raven closes the garbage portal and phases through the ground once more, dropping through story after story until she makes it to the underground garage, where everyone was indeed loading towels, toys, and umbrellas into the back of the car. Starfire notices Raven's arrival and flies over to give her friend a crushing hug.
"Oh, friend Raven! Are you sure you do not wish to join us on this glorious day of sun and shopping and volleying balls?"
"Yes, Starfire, I'm sure," Raven replies breathlessly, trying to ignore the sound of her back popping, "if someone doesn't stay, there was no way we could get Robin out of here, and you know it."
The Tameranian looks at her friend solemnly. "I understand. That does not mean I will not mourn your absence." Starfire finally lets go of Raven. "Oh! Also, we have asked Robin to leave his communicator here so that he will not pester you with questions, but if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask."
Raven briefly entertains the idea of asking the team to go on a grocery run before they leave, but she decides that she values peace and quiet over fresh food.
"Yo Star, we're ready to go! You coming or what?" Cyborg waves at the redhead from inside the car, revving the engine for emphasis.
With a final bone crushing hug and a quick goodbye, Starfire gets into the car with the others, they all leave, and the tower is quiet at last. It's not that Raven doesn't love her makeshift family, but their enthusiasm can be taxing sometimes, and having some peace and privacy will give her the chance to recharge, so to speak.
Flying up once more to her room- after stopping in Robin's room to grab the laptop that was checking for Slade activity - Raven lights some incense and candles, throws away her ruined costume, and sits on her bed to meditate. After about an hour of chanting, her meditation is interrupted by a growl. Snapping her eyes open, Raven tries to find the source of the growl, only for it to happen again. In her stomach. With a half-hearted glare at the offending organ, she tries to remember the last time she ate.
That's right, I didn't eat dinner last night. I guess it's about lunch time, anyway. Might was well see if anyone delivers food that isn't a greasy mess. A quick look through the internet says the answer to that is no, so she decides to take another look in the fridge. Maybe the mold missed something in the freezer. It's not ideal, but I'm not desperate enough to leave the tower for food...yet.
Not wanting to deal with the cold floor in between her room and the kitchen, Raven lazily floats down the hallway on her back, eyes lidded, still in a state of borderline consciousness that comes with deep meditation. It's so nice to have the place to myself every once in a while. A mini vacation of my own. Most of the baddies are in jail, the team is out on the town for at least a few hours. Some guaranteed peace and quiet. Her stomach growls again, reminding her why she left her room, and she rotates herself to a standing position in front of the fridge, floating an inch or two above the cold tile. Raven opens the freezer, grimacing at the blast of icy air, and searches again for something edible.
Something tickles in the back of her mind. Some telepathic premonition or instinct that defies the five senses. Something that tells her something or someone else is in the room with her. She begins to turn around with a puzzled look on her face, when suddenly Raven is grabbed by the back of her neck and wrenched back,her head slammed against the side of the refrigerator. One. Two. Three. Whatever grabbed her lets Raven go, and she drops to the ground like a rag doll. The young woman shakily pushes herself up off the ground and tries to look at the intruder. Steel toed boots, plates of metal scattered across the body, and finally an instantly recognizable mask of orange and black. Pain exploding behind her eyes, too disoriented to summon her powers, and fighting to stay conscious, Raven could only stare open mouthed and wide eyed at Slade, standing over her in the kitchen of her home.
"If anyone, I was expecting an entirely different bird. Guess I'll have to take care of you before your precious friends get back." Mockery and smug confidence drip from the mercenary's voice like tainted honey. "Sweet dreams, little Raven."
Slade raises his foot, and the last thing she sees before everything goes black is the bottom of his boot.