Chapter 1: A Day in the Life
She never did forget about that day.
That day in her life where she and her team almost lost one of their own. She could still remember that day like it was yesterday, every detail of the day imprinted onto her photographic memory. Although it was two and a half years ago she could still remember the way the old mansion smelled of mold and dust, how the gloomy hallways seemed to stretch for miles as her panicked mind became more and more frantic every step she took. How the noise of battle echoed throughout the entire building. How she could feel his excruciating amounts of rage and pain from the other side of the door alongside the sick emotions of elation from a monster she never dared to name since that fateful night.
She remembered that haunting aura, so cold and lifeless that it gave her shivers to this day every time she recalled feeling that aura. She remembered all the tears she spent that day, she remembered all the blood spilled.
There was so much blood that night.
Most of it his.
The terrifying image of his bloody and lifeless body in her arms still plagued her mind to this day. Even as she held him tightly her arms at this very moment, she could still not forget that image, that day. Where she almost lost him forever.
Violet eyes opened into the dark room around her. It was almost seven in the morning and the sun was finally beginning to peak over the large skyscrapers of downtown Jump City. She sighed quietly as she realized it was time to get up. 'Why do I insist on waking up this early?' She thought, her tired body still refusing to get up and out of the very warm bed. Attempting to stretch her legs she found them entangled with something beneath the covers, her eyes widened briefly until her slowly waking up mind finally registered what she was entangled with.
A small smile broke across her face as she looked down at what she had first thought was a very warm pillow. There beneath her head was the chest of a very green and very asleep changeling. Lifting up her head, Raven of the Titans gazed down at the sleeping form of her boyfriend of two and a half years.
Garfield Logan, now known as Changeling snored beneath her, one arm wrapped around her waist as the other was splayed across his own chest, his hands bare and in plain sight along with all the scars that were riddled across them and his arms.
Raven gave all of the scars a critical look, each one being inspected with intense interest and sympathy. She followed the scars from his hands to his arms and then to his chest where even more covered the jade skin until she found the one scar that gave her pause every single time she admired him.
A small round scar right in the center of his chest, a bullet wound.
The final wound that took his life.
She traced the small scar with her finger as the terrible memory once again flooded her mind and she found herself having trouble breathing temporarily.
She was only pulled out the memory when she heard a quiet purr come from the man holding her. Tearing her eyes away from the scar Raven looked up at the face of the man she loved most. His emerald, tired eyes looked back at her and a satisfied smile was growing on his face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Raven spoke softly. Changeling yawned and pulled Raven closer to him as his eyes closed once again.
"Good morning to you too Rae." He replied. "What time is it?"
"A little after seven." Raven answered. She watched his eyes open once again but this time in slight annoyance.
"Aww man! That's way too early!" He complained. Raven moved out of his arms and sat up.
"Go back to sleep Gar. You have another hour until training. Again I'm sorry for waking you up." She said as she arched her back and stretched her legs. Changeling disappointed to now no longer have his girlfriend in bed with him, pouted before a mischievous smile came across his face.
"You know, if I was going to be woken up by you feeling me up I think I would rather have your hands somewhere else. Wouldn't you agree?" Changeling stated with suppressed laugh. He couldn't contain his laughter a second later when he saw his girlfriend's face grow red hot.
Feeling embarrassed Raven threw a pillow at the green man who easily caught it. "That's not funny Gar. I think your jokes are getting more and more perverted every day we continue to date." She drawled.
"You know you love me Rae, especially my jokes." He said as he rested the pillow over his eyes to block out the sun. Raven looked over at the ridiculous man in her, well now their bed.
Three months after the two began dating, Changeling had permanently moved in with her. The once dark and foreboding room of Jump City's local half-demon was now an elegant and comfortable shared bedroom of the budding couple.
"Yes, I admit that I do indeed love you Gar, Azar protect me." Gar snorted when he heard her whisper the last part to herself. "I refuse to admit that I find your jokes to be amusing." She said as she used her powers to grab a new leotard from her closet along with her hooded cape and her shower materials. Standing up and stepping into her bathroom she closed her door.
Twenty minutes later, a showered and fully clothed Raven stepped out of her bathroom. She looked over to her bed and had to force back a laugh clawing its way up her throat. Her idiotic boyfriend was now spread eagle, fast asleep on the bed. His lower half covered by his blue pajama pants and a thin blanket. Raven rolled her eyes and moved toward her door, ready to take on the day.
Just as she was about to step out onto the hallway, the entire tower was flooded by a flashing red light and claxons begun to blare throughout every room. Back inside her room she heard a loud groan of annoyance.
"Aww come on! Can't the villains just wait a few hours until it's a reasonable time?" Changeling groaned as he got out of bed. As quickly as a very tired Changeling could, Garfield Logan clumsily pulled on his Doom Patrol uniform and then his classic gray gloves. Even though he now knew his teammates didn't mind the sight of his ugly scars, he was still hesitant to show his naked hands around Jump City. Tying up his shoes Changeling raced out of the door and joined with a waiting Raven in the hallway.
Sharing a brief but loving kiss in the hallway, Raven took his hand and teleported the two heroes to the Titans common room where they found all of their friends already there at the console. The couple stepped behind their leader, now Nightwing as they waited to see who it was today. Nightwing turned to look at his team.
"Good, everyone is here although I don't think Gar is awake yet." Nightwing joked, causing both Cyborg and Starfire to laugh.
"He got you there grass stain. You still look half asleep." Cyborg laughed and nudged his best friend's shoulder who promptly swatted at the mechanical arm.
"Hardy har har, just tell us who is causing the trouble so I can go back to sleep." Changeling retorted. Nightwing smiled briefly before taking up a very serious persona.
"It seems that Cinderblock has once again broken out of prison and is creating problems on West Liberty Boulevard. Titan's I know I don't' have to go over our full strategy on this one; it's always the same strategy. Brute and overwhelming force until he is subdued." All the other Titans nodded their heads in determination. "Alright, Titan's Go!"
In seconds the Titan's sprang into action. Raven taking a hold of both Changeling and Starfire teleported them to the roof where they could easily fly into the city. Nightwing and Cyborg took the elevator down to the garage where the T-car and R-cycle awaited for their use. Within three minutes the tower was empty and the Titans were off to fight another villain who refused to stay in prison.
Just another day in the life.
(In Jump City)
Starfire, Changeling and Raven were the first to arrive on scene. The three adult heroes looked onward over the now damaged street. Cars were flipped over and massive cracks could be seen in the pavement beneath them from where the large rock monster had stepped. Broken glass and in one particular part of the street where a fire hydrant was ripped out of the ground, water spewed onto the now mostly empty street. The Three heroes looked at each other with determination.
"Friends, I believe now is the time to do the kicking of the rock butt." Starfire stated with a cocky smile before charging in with a righteous fury, her eyes and hands ablaze with green fire. She flew straight at the rock monster and pummeled it with a bone shattering right hook. Cinderblock toppled to the ground with a massive crash, the ground shaking and cracking beneath him.
"Star sure knows how to get is attention." Changeling laughed before he chased after his friend in the shape of a massive bull elephant. Raven nodded to no one as she too took off after her friend and lover, her fists aglow with obsidian magic.
Cinderblock roared in rage as it attempted to stand up only to be forced down again by the charging bull elephant. Cinderblock rolled and was forcibly pushed into a concrete building, its glass windows on the first three floors immediately shattering and raining down on him from the vibrations of the hit. Now in a daze, Cinderblock barely had time to register the massive bus covered in obsidian magic being thrown at him before it was too late.
The bus smashed directly into his chest, causing the massive rock beast to grunt in pain. Taking a few seconds to gather its bearings, Cinderblock slowly stood up and was immediately bombarded by starbolt after starbolt from above. Attempting to get away from the barrage of attacks Cinderblock moved to his right only to be struck by both an explosive disc and the blast of a sonic cannon.
"Booyah! Didn't think you guys could take all the fun did you?" Cyborg cheered from beside Nightwing. The other three heroes looked at the two newcomers and smirked. If the Titan's didn't already have the upper hand before, they now most definitely had it now.
With the combined force of the five Titans, Cinderblock barely had a chance to take a single step before being hit by another attack. In a matter of ten minutes he was already exhausted and beaten to a pulp. With one final left hook from Cyborg, the mighty stone monster came crashing down with a massive thud, unconscious. Each Titan looked at each other with a victorious smile.
"Great work team! We took Cinderblock down in record timing." Nightwing congratulated.
"Woah, now that's what I call a good butt kicking." Cyborg announced.
"Yes, that was a most excellent kicking of the butt. We are victorious once again." Starfire cheered.
"We totally didn't need your help Cy. Star, Rae and I had him all under control." Changeling joked causing Cyborg to snort.
"Yeah right grass stain. If me and Night didn't get there in time y'all would have had a lot more trouble with ole block head there." Cyborg retorted.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyway, I think it's time we got this show on the road. I still got some sleep to catch up before training later today." Changeling stated. Looking to Nightwing, "Permission to go get the police so we can haul this massive rock back to prison Night?" He asked.
"Go ahead Changeling. We'll be done here once you come back." Their leader said. Changeling whooped in happiness before he took off toward the police barricade five blocks down the street, the other Titan's watching him as he did.
"You know, ever since the little guy was proven innocent by Slade of all people, he sure has volunteered a lot to go get the police to pick up the villains." Cyborg stated causing Raven to snort. All eyes turned to her.
"Of course he does. He likes to gloat and guilt trip the police commissioner every chance he can. I don't think Gar ever fully forgave him after he openly admitted to us that he believed Gar was a criminal. He also likes the publicity and attention he gets along with it now." Raven explained with a small smile. Both Cyborg and Starfire laughed at her explanation while Nightwing only stayed silent, a smirk painted across his lips.
"Well that explains it then." Cyborg announced cheerfully.
"I do not mean to do the breaking of the mood, but there is a strange hooded man watching us from that alleyway." Starfire suddenly stated catching the other three Titans attention. All three Titans followed her gaze and true to her word, there stood a hooded figure, watching them.
Putting up defensive stances, each Titan slowly circled the mysterious figure. It was only at that moment when Raven felt a freezing sensation go through her body as the newcomer's aura hit her empathic senses. Fear filled her soul as she recognized this very familiar aura.
It was an aura she would likely never forget, the feeling of undeniable power, evil and death filled her senses until she felt lightheaded.
"No…" She whispered with wide eyes as she now knew who this was. It took another few moments before the others recognized their old adversary as well, each and every one of them stiffing up in fear.
The figure raised his pale green eyes, his dead gaze looking at every single hero before falling onto the sorceress. A sad smile crept upon his chapped lips.
"His time has come sorceress. He has a debt to pay." He spoke in his familiar chilling voice before raising a hand in the air for the Titans to see.
With a simple snap of his fingers, all other sounds in the street appeared to have disappeared completely. The Titans waited with batted breaths for something to happen.
And then they heard it over their communicators.
"Changeling? Are you Ok? Changeling? CHANGELING! TITAN DOWN! I REPEAT TITAN DOWN!" A voice echoed down the quiet street.
Well, I'm back after a long year of refusing to write anything new. If people haven't guessed already this is the first chapter of my along waited sequel to Family Problems. I don't know how often I'll be updating this fanfic, but if it gets good reviews and enough attention I'll try to make my updates much and much more recent. Although, I make no promises because i do indeed now have an adult job which takes up the majority of my life. I hope you all enjoy.
-Greenhatred77
