If You Say So / Chapter One
The Ends Justify The Means
Sunny, this place was always sunny. And not the normal sunny either, it was more of the unnaturally happy sunny. Sort of like that creepy happy like in the move IT, like nothing was natural. Well, that was how it was like to Raven.
Luckily, the sun wasn't out yet. Darkness seemed to ink the night sky in a thick layer of black in violet; Raven could clearly see it now from her bed in the darkness of her room. This could possibly be the only time in the world when everything showed its true colors, when certain things (and unfortunately, people) came out of hiding.
Like right now, even as Raven laid in her bed, silk covers encasing everything except her neck and face while her eyes stared blankly out her window, she could hear the siren. She had to go to work now, she knew it, but she wanted to see how long she could last in the bed, head nested comfortably on the soft black pillows.
"Yo, Rae!"
Raven heard deep pounding and scattered footsteps coming towards her door. Sighing, she sat up in her bed, feeling a bit cold as the silk slipped off her body. Raven tilted her head to see her cloak resting on a chair that stood beside her bookshelf. And by the door, were her boots.
The footsteps we becoming louder as Cyborg and Beast Boy (she assumed) were coming closer to her room. Raven went towards her cloak first, as she always did, and then floated to slip into her boots, glad she still had her leotard on.
She could hear the footsteps stop directly in front of her door, Raven took the opportunity to teleport out of her room and sneak up the two 'visitors' unnoticed.
Raven saw that was indeed Cyborg and Beast Boy, smirking a bit.
"Would you guys hurry up?"
That got the desired affect as they both shot up, eyes wide from surprise. Raven's hood was over her head as she flew swiftly down the halls to meet up with Robin, failing at trying to hide the grin that was spreading on her face.
The alert brought the Titans to a warehouse area by the ocean. Robin cursed his luck, if the police were right, and he was playing thief tonight, they'll probably be up until morning trying to look for him. And knowing this particular thief, the team would come up empty.
The sky was starless tonight, which wasn't unusual for these past few days. The rows of beaten down warehouses greeted them, and Robin couldn't help but wonder why the town didn't get rid of them.
Instead of fretting on the thought, the Boy Wonder turned to his team, who were patiently waiting for him to give orders while silently memorizing the area. This team leader stuff is getting old, he thought as cleared his throat.
"How 'bout we split up and find him," Robin suggested, "we'll meet up here in 30 minutes."
Everyone nodded and Robin added, "If you find him…"
"Yeah, yeah," Beast Boy said, "We'll call you." He showed his yellow communicator, and waved it a bit for show.
Cyborg and Raven rolled their eyes as Starfire giggled at their friend, possibly the only time the green Titan was actually funny, Robin simply ran his hand through his black spiky locks. And with that, the group separated, each heading off on their own separate ways separate ways.
Robin didn't know how this kept on happening, every fucking time he went after this certain criminal, he ended up tied upside-down, with an 'X' plastered on his mouth. And every time, the criminal, Red X, would sit a while and laugh while Robin struggled with the bindings, in the costume Robin made… that X stole. Sometimes, he wished that he could just go over to him and beat him down with a crowbar.
Honestly, as much as he hated to admit this, X was better with the suit than Robin would ever be.
Stupid thieves…
Said thief, stood up and brushed his black suit off and said, "I've gotta go."
And even though Robin couldn't see it, X had grinned then winked at him.
Starfire flew above a few buildings, hands glowing green in the night for light. The Tamaranian was honestly tired, Robin wanted to do training with her (though, it wasn't as bad as it sounds), and BB and Cyborg kept her up by being the referee for game they were playing. If you asked the girl what game it was, she would honestly not be able to tell you.
She repressed a sigh and continued to scan the area. She hoped that the Red X would come out already. Suddenly, she felt her body being tightly tied down and, her powers, weren't responding as fast as she thought they should as she was being propelled into a stack of wooden boxes. Her eyes were closing tightly, she fell down head first.
Well, as the old American earth saying goes, "Be careful what wish for."
Raven couldn't see Starfire get attacked, but she felt it. The girl was probably unconscious now; there weren't any feelings or thoughts from the alien sneaking in at the moment. But that brought a problem; Raven didn't have a way to find Starfire.
Cyborg had gotten rid of the trackers when a couple of people (who will not be mentioned) snatched the communicators… well lets not go deep in to that, shall we? The Titans still had the communicators, but that's all they were… communicators. There was no possible way that a person could get the communicators and hack into them for personal use; the half-robot Titan had that thing locked well.
So then Raven decided to go for her second option, she took out her communicator and attempted to call her other team mates. She was levitating above a warehouse roof, wind whipping off her hood, and wondering why the others weren't answering.
"Well, hello, lil' birdie," Raven twisted her body in air towards the voice. Crap, Raven twisted her body around to see him sitting comfortably on a box that was near the edge of the roof, his head cocked to the side. Raven was positive that the guy was smirking under the mask.
"That's not my name," she replied, glaring at him. Maybe she could keep him busy, just keep on talking to him while trying to telepathically communicate with the others.
Red X shrugged, "I like calling you that," he said. He was sitting Indian style, looking comfortable. His right hand was dangerously close to his belt, and that meant that if Raven did attack the thief, he would just dodge it, get her back, and slip away.
So Raven decided to keep the guy talking, "What did you steal this time," not a good question but Raven was curious, she mentally cursed the cops (and the store owner) for not giving the full details on that part.
He shrugged again, "That's for me to know, and you to find out," Raven wondered if that was the guy's real voice, or if it had some other device in it, like when Robin was X.
"It's always the bad guys," she muttered (loud enough for him to hear), hoping to get a rise out the thief.
"Now who said I was a bad guy," got ya now…
"You're not a good guy," she replied.
"But I'm not bad," he shot back.
Everyone had talked about this topic, villains and heroes alike.
"You broke the law, numerous of times, making you a bad guy," Raven said. She could have sworn she saw the guy flinch.
"Is that how they define things now-a-days?" Raven nodded.
"Well," he said then paused; Raven decided to sit (still floating) and tried to see if she could contact the others without the guy noticing.
"Well, I suppose that you guys are bad as well." Raven raised an eyebrow at this, "Vigilantes," he clarified.
It was Raven's turn to shrug, "We make up for it." She had another thought, "Which side are you on?"
"Mine." Both eyebrows shot up at this one.
"So you're like an anti-hero," Raven asked, she could hear footsteps coming her way, she prayed that it was the team.
He didn't reply right away, making Raven wonder if he caught on to what she had planned. Another shrug and he stood up, leaving Raven to stare at the guy, a bit annoyed. A small green raven flew over to where the she was then shape shifting into Beast Boy in front of her eyes. She could only guess that the other person was either Robin or Cyborg. The green Titan looked from Raven, to Red X, and then back to Raven again, confused as to why nobody was doing anything.
Suddenly, the thief jumped, tapping his belt and disappearing in midair. Beast Boy stared at Raven, who at the moment was staring at the spot X had just left.
"You… just let him go," the changeling muttered. Raven only shrugged, making Beast Boy sigh. He turned on his heel and started to leave. Raven started to leave with Beast Boy, in silent agreement to call it a night.
He never did answer my question…
A/N: Yup, beta'd and all (thank you Dennis!) What do you think?
(Disclaimer: I'm not making any money (period) nor do I own the characters...honestly, if I did own the show, there would be a whole 'nother season!)