Knowledge is power.
By: Wolf Moon Requiem
A/N: You know the drill I only own the things other people don't.
"Some things never change huh kid?"
"Says you Tin Man"
The old nickname was especially fitting now a days but coming from this particular person it sounded almost like a curse. Leaning against a brick wall Cyborg sighs
"I came back for you, you know"
"Course ya did"
The five and a half feet of attitude next to him takes a drag of her cigarette and stares off into the night.
"Where did you disappear to?"
"I had places to go, people to meet"
"You were seven…"
"So?"
Cyborg sighs again
"I miss you Cass"
The girl next to him cringes and throws her cigarette on the ground.
"That's not my name, its Books now"
Her deminar softens but only for a moment.
"I miss you to Vic"
A man's head appears from around the corner and her softness is gone.
"Yo Books lets go the big man's here"
Books stomps on her still lit cigarette and walks off
"Catch ya later Tin Man"
It only takes her being out of his sight for a moment for Cyborg to decide to chase after her. He rushes around the corner only to see the door of a fancy looking car closing. He curses to himself and fires a tracking beacon out of his arm at the cars bumper as its driving past.
Cyborg follows the cars signal to the shadier part of the city and finds it parked outside what looks like an abandoned house. He parks next to the car wondering what he should do until he hears an un-mistakenly female scream. Almost without thinking he jumps out of the car and busts through the front door into the houses living room.
Books is leaning against one of the walls, a switchblade sticking out of her left leg. Several cuts and bruises are beginning to form on her body but all these injuries are minor compared to what Cyborg has in mind for the three men standing across from his childhood friend.
Cyborg busting into the room is all the distraction Books needs however to turn the fight to her advantage. She pulls the switchblade out of her leg and flips it in her hand. With an almost casual toss she hurls it towards the middle man and smiles (almost psychotically) when it buries itself into his throat. Still smiling she looks at the other two who are staring at their fallen boss in shock.
"Run"
They heed her advice but make the mistake of trying to run past Cyborg who grabs both of them by their collars and slams their heads together efficiently knocking them out. He drops them to the ground and rushes over to Books who is slowly sinking to the ground holding her leg. He helps her sit on the ground ignoring the pissed off look she's giving him
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I followed you to make sure you were going to be ok. Looks like it's a good thing I did to!"
"I didn't need your help I had everything under control"
She tries to stand but Cyborg scoops her up into his arms before she can protest. He chuckles a little
"Sure you did"
Cyborg swiftly deposits Books into the car and calls the police to come pick up the other gangsters. After a slight argument with Books he calls an ambulance as well ("He's not dead you dumb ass! I hit his vocal chords so unless he bleeds out the fuck face will be fine!") and then takes off towards the tower.
When they are safely in the medical wing he deposits her onto a bed and ignoring her threats uses his communicator to call Raven to them. When the demon sorceress enters the medical wing she is shocked to see Cyborg cleaning the wound on another girl's leg with antiseptic wipes. Even more suppressing is the fact that the girl is practically attacking him while he does so and spitting out words that would make the most hardened sailor blush. She waves her hands in the air and the other girl is bound by dark energy ropes. Books screams her rage at not being able to move and struggles against the binds while Cyborg stands and greets his friend.
"She wasn't hurting me Rae."
"Who is she?"
"It's a long story could we talk later? Right now I need your help with her leg. The knife cut pretty deep I'm afraid she won't be able to walk."
Raven walks over to the girl with weary eyes. Cyborg is like a brother to her otherwise she would have never put up with being asked to do such an annoying task.
"I have to release her in order to heal her leg."
Cyborg nods and moves behind Books
"Don't you dare touch me! I don't want your fucking help"
Both titans ignore her and Cyborg grabs her in a bear hug locking her arms to her sides. He pulls her into a standing position and squeezes her uninjured leg between his own rendering her completely motionless so that Raven can safely work on her leg.
It only takes a few seconds for Raven to see that Cyborg was right, without her help the girl wouldn't be walking on that leg any time soon. The damage from the knife being so carelessly pulled from her leg had shredded the muscle, not an easy thing to heal from naturally. Raven closed her eyes and began chanting the healing words and she laid two black glowing hands on the wound.
"I swear to god I hate you Victor! I fucking hate you! Let me the fuck go right now so I can kick your ass!"
Several minutes later Books leg is as good as new and Raven moves out of the way to avoid the girl's ungrateful kick. Raising her hands Raven prepares to bind the girl again but Cyborg shakes his head,
"No its ok Rae she has to work through this trust me."
He let's go of Books and immediately blocks a punch to his face. Several more follow and for the next half hour Raven watches in barely concealed anger as Books destroys a few thousand dollars worth of equipment and tries her best to hurt her fellow titan.
When Books energy is depleted as Cyborg knew it would be she plops to the ground breathing heavily.
"Better now?"
Books glares at Cyborg and gives him the middle finger which to her annoyance only makes him laugh.
"You're still just like a little kid huh Cass? All that spunk and fight and then you just drop"
"Shut the fuck up Victor I told you my name is Books now"
"Yeah yeah"
He walks over to the girl and scoops her up into his arms. He guesses that she doesn't have enough energy left to attack him anymore and lucky for him he's right. Cyborg motions for Raven to follow them to his room and she complies curious to hear why he's putting up with this girl.
When they enter the room he drops Books onto the bed and covers her fully with a blanket. He motions for Raven to sit on a couch in the corner and starts to explain their history.
"Cass was an orphan girl who lived in my neighborhood. No one really knew where she came from or who her parents were but she would hide in one of the abandoned houses and steal what she needed. The other kids would make fun of her because of how she looked but in reality she was a sweet girl with a big heart. It didn't take everyone long to figure out she was different and that just gave them more ammo to tease her with. We became friends when she stopped me from falling into the local river and were pretty much inseparable until my accident. I lost touch with her until today."
Raven nods in understanding about needing to reconnect with your past.
"So what are you going to do with her now?"
"Well to be honest I was hoping she could stay here. She does have a power after all and once she settles in she'll be a big help to us."
"A power? How did she get beat up so bad if she has a power to defend herself with?"
"It's not an offensive power Rae, Cass knows things."
"Knows things? Like what"
A sleepy voice answers her from under the blanket.
"Your name is Raven Ariella Roth daughter of Ariella Roth and the trans-dimensional demon king Trigon. When you go out in public you use the name Rachelle Roth to avoid being recognized as a titan. Your home planet Azarath was destroyed by your father and when he tried to do the same to earth you and the other titans stopped him and sent him back to his prison in hell."
A large yawn ends Books rant and the blanket rustles as she moves into a more comfortable position and falls back asleep. Most of that info could have come from Cyborg except for her mother's name; no one on earth knew her mother's name that alone was proof of the girl's power to Raven. Cyborg gives her a moment to process everything Books said before explaining how her power works.
"When you touched her leg to heal it she started to learn. The longer physical contact is held the more she learns. She probably doesn't know much more then what she just said.
Raven nods her head and makes a mental note to stay as far away from this new girl as she can. There are some things about her past that are better left unknown. Cyborg pulls the blanket off of Books face to make sure that she's still asleep and when he's sure she is he chuckles
"Same as always, she fights so hard and then just passes right out"
Raven fights the urge to roll her eyes and follows Cyborg out of his room. They find Robin in the workout room and he agrees to call a meeting in the morning to discuss the possibility of Cyborg's guest staying. They part ways and Cyborg returns to his room where he watches over Books throughout the rest of the night.