Rusty: WELCOME TO THE PIT OF MISERY! As Dusty and I have been split we must now write online, which isn't very easy mind you! So, bear that in mind please . . . I did the editing so if the story has got poor English it's my fault. Well not much more to say except REVIEW OR BE PUNISHED. BWAHAHAHAH!
Dusty: Yes, it is extremely difficult! "No, I just wanted you to know how hard it was." LOL sorry...go watch Batman Begins people. I know this is a bit out of season...we got the idea in October but didn't act on it till about a month ago. Updateswill be slow...but we for sure won't update unless we get at least ten reviews, so get busy people!
Robin slipped silently into the kitchen, creeping right behind the two female members of the team. "BOO!" he cried out. Starfire jumped startled, Raven's eyes rolled in annoyance. "Good morning team! Do you know what today is?" he continued without a pause, "Today is the first day of October. It is now officially the month of pranks, spooks, and other scares." Placing his hands on the back of Starfire and Raven's chairs he lowered his head between theirs. "We all remember last year don't we?" He winked at the girls.
Raven slipped into memory. She remember last year; the boys had given her and Star a night of pure terror, running after them through the tower, tricking them into believing that Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy had all died. Yes, she remembered last year.
"Why no, Robin. I think it's slipped my mind. You've only told the story five thousand times in the last three days." Raven glared coldly into her tea.
Across the table Beast Boy and Cyborg burst into infantile giggles, falling to the floor.
This failed to damper the Boy Wonder's spirits. "Five thousand? Has it really been that much? Well then I suppose one more time wouldn't hurt." He smirked, pausing for a reaction.
"Would you define impalement as hurt?" Raven hissed, still refusing to look at him. Beast Boy and Cyborg turned pale, and Robin's smile faltered slightly.
"Impalement? Possibly. Would you be impaling me, or a hologram of me?" Robin's grin became full again.
Refusing to be outdone, Raven spat back, "No . . . for the hologram I would need a tutu, some paper flowers, and, of course, a camera. The impalement was meant for you."
"Well in that case it would hurt, but you'd hate to see me full of spears now wouldn't you? I seem to recall you finding it quite horrific last time."
"Choke on your own tongue and die!" The cup in her hands shattered, spraying tea on everyone but her as she shoved past Robin and stormed from the room.
Robin quickly followed. "Oh, come on, Raven! It wasn't that bad. It happened a year ago and you STILL don't see the humor in it. If you'd just calm down for a minute and think about it then you'd think it was funny too!"
"Oh yes Robin it's ever so funny. Why don't you take your arrogant and twisted sense of humor and stick it where the sun don't shine, because I'm not interested." Raven shut the door in his face, locking it and switching on soundproof mode, an absolutely heaven-sent feature.
Robin blinked, mouth slightly open. "Wow...is she really that mad? I didn't think it would upset her that much..." A few minutes of actual thought later..."Dang that was a jerky thing to do...I'll have to figure out a way to make it up to her." Wondering if Raven liked chocolate or not, he wandered away down the hallway headed for his room.
Back in the kitchen
Cyborg chuckled, "Man, Robin has really got to quit pushing her buttons like that. One day he could push her just a little to hard and BOOOM!" he demonstrated by using his fork to lift his toast and squish his scrambled eggs into oblivion.
Beast Boy laughed somewhat nervously, a lighter shade of green than was normal. "Dude...did you see the look on her face? She looked like she wanted to roast his heart on a spit!" He shivered, staring down at his full plate of tofu.
"IT WAS NOT FUNNY!" Star was mad. "You two act as though friend Raven should be happy and laughing when last year you made us think you had died!" Her voice rose to a yell, "PERHAPS THE NEXT TIME WE SEE YOU DEAD WE WILL NOT CARE SO MUCH!" Star left the room, horrified that her friends and teammates could be so careless about the feelings of another good friend.
Beast Boy gaped, then cowered down in his seat, eyes wide. Cyborg's mouth hung open, and several bits of egg and bacon fell back to the plate from whence they came. Time seemed frozen for the space of about five minutes, then... "Hey B, wanna play Game Station?"
The pit of despair
Sulking in her room, Raven paced back and forth. How could Robin think that she would find seeing someone she loved dead as funny? She had to make him see how hurtful it was or she knew he wouldn't stop, but Raven couldn't see how she could do that. As she approached her bedside table is seemed almost as if the red roses-a gift from Robin-wilted slightly. A strong urge to burn them came over her; after all, there was no reason to keep them with the way he was acting. Or she could send them back to him, half dead. Sure it had been a couple days, but he'd still get the message that she was mad. Giving back what he gave her-that was it! That was how she'd get through to him; give him what he gave her-a nightmare.
Starfire fumed not-so-silently as she made her way to Raven's room, feeling deeply sympathetic for her friend. Robin was without doubt behaving like the worst Barfnab Garblernelk she had ever had the misfortune of seeing. The un-funny joke was bad enough, but then he had to taunt and tease about it until they had both reached the end of their ropes. Such behavior should not be tolerated. "Raven?" "Friend Raven it is I, Starfire! May I plea--Eek!" she broke off as the door opened and a pale hand grabbed her shirt and jerked her inside.
"I'm glad you came up here." The corner of Raven's mouth went up mischievously. "Starfire, how would you like to get back at the boys for that little prank they pulled last year?"
"Um...Yes?" Starfire was still recovering from the initial shock of being pulled into Raven's room with no warning. It was nothing like the cheerful pink light of her own quarters...
"Good, because I think they should know EXACTLY how we feel about this, and I've begun coming up with a little plan to show them. Will you help me?"
"Um...show them? Friend Raven, I am not sure if I understand you. How will we show them how we felt? Are you proposing a sharing of feelings?" Star perked up at the thought, thinking Raven might be happier if she told Robin how she felt.
"Not quite. I was proposing that we give them a little prank of our own. Of course for it to show them how we feel it would have to be modeled after their own."
Starfire let out a small gasp, staring at the slightly demonic smile on Raven's face with wide eyes. "But Raven, such a thing would be...wrong! We would be as bad as they, should we sink to such a horrendous level! Surely there is some other way--"
"And how do you propose we do that? Tell them that it bothers us? I've told Robin as many times as he's told the story. CLEARLY it's not sinking in."
"Yes, but..." Star bit her lip; she couldn't help but understand where Raven was coming from. The constant harassment was beginning to grate on her nerves to an unbearable point, and every time Robin mocked the way she had cried over their dead bodies...righteous fury boiled inside her. Raven was right; they would not stop unless they were, as Earthlings say, "forced the swallow the medicine of their own making". "How shall we go about this, Friend Raven?"
Raven's demonic smile widened, "I haven't worked out all the details, but one element we must have in our retaliation, is them finding our bodies dead and believing that they are. The only problem is-well that Robin will be expecting a prank of some sort, after all it's Halloween. There exists only one other time when he would be more suspicious of a joke and that's April Fool's day. Do you have any ideas?"
"Um...is it not true that Robin is the strongest point of our team?" Star asked, sitting on Raven's bed and curling her legs up underneath her comfortably.
"Yes. He's the strongest, that's why he is the head of our team, and we all depend on him up to a certain point. It also follows his personality to be the one who would come up with their joke, so called. How in the world will we crack him?" Raven leaned up against the wall and slumped to the ground.
"That is certainly a difficult question, but surely even the bravest of heroes have some fear? Robin is indeed human; therefore he must have a weakness. Perhaps we could...research him?" Starfire proposed, twirling her hair thoughtfully.
"Hmm . . . you're right. We absolutely will have to research him. I can do that fairly easily though, as long as I can force myself to pretend I've forgiven him." Raven sighed, she hated being mad at Robin but this fight would soon be over. "While I look into Robin's fears why don't you try and figure out Cyborg and Beast Boys fears, beyond running out of meat and running into meat."
Starfire smiled at the joke. "I shall do my best, though I am not sure if they fear much else in this world...unless it is perhaps a lack of the butt-kicking?"
Raven smiled at her alien friend. Star was really catching on to things here. "All right. Well I'll go fake an apology for blowing up at breakfast and get things started. We need the information as soon as we can get it so I suggest you start soon also." Raven walked out her door towards Robin's room, her first stop on her quest for revenge.
The bird's room
Robin jerked his head up in surprise at the knock on his door. Fingers clicking away on the keyboard, he brought up the camera feed from out side his door, then nearly swallowed his gum. "Crap!" he muttered. Having just stepped out of the shower, he was very sparsely dressed. Hurrying into some clothes and fixing his mask into place, he marched over to the door, took a moment to compose himself, then opened it with his trademark cocky grin in place. "Hey, Raven. What's up?"
Raven knew she had to get this right; if she did the slightest thing wrong, Robin would know something was up and their gag would be blown. "Uh . . . well I wanted to-" she stopped. Raven felt guilty for lying to him, even if it was a little lie and in the end it would go towards the greater good. She had already gotten Starfire involved, why go back now? "I wanted to apologize for blowing up at you this morning. That story is just getting so old, and well . . . it really isn't that funny."
Robin's eyebrow quirked slightly. Raven...apologizing? That was awfully fast, considering she told him to die not two hours ago. Very uncharacteristic...unless of course she just decided she felt bad for it... "No problem...I'm surprised you're apologizing at all, since I was the one being a...well a jerk." Suspicion was almost forgotten as he frowned, rare guilt breaking the surface. "I'm sorry, Rae. It was mean, you're right. I promise I won't ever mention it again." He smiled warmly at her, then took her hand and pulled her out into the hallway.
She had expected her tense stomach to relax with his lack of questions, but instead it tightened. He was being so understanding--how could she go on with the prank?
Smiling dazzlingly, Robin gave her hand a playful tug. "Come on, we're going on a little road trip!"
Her heart skipped a beat, that smile made him look so adorable. She gripped his hand and followed. Had this been a different day, with different event occurring earlier, it would have been perfect. Yet the words exchanged earlier rang threw her mind, saddening her heart.
Robin led her to the garage, taking two helmets off their hooks and handing a dark purple one to Raven. It was, unofficially, hers, while the red one was his favorite. "It's a bit of a ride...so you might want to call up Cyborg and tell him not to wait up." The grin just kept getting wider as he slid into the front and Raven got on behind him.
Raven gave a shy sort of smile as she put on her helmet. "Before I call, may I ask where we're going?"
"Hmm...you absolutely may, but that doesn't mean you'll get an answer." Feeling her tense slightly, he laughed. "It doesn't involve death, pain, or misery. Satisfied?"
"Not really, but I guess I'll see when we get there." After a quick call to Cyborg telling him they were leaving and dodging all questions, she wrapped her arms around Robin's waist and held on.
The drive to Gotham took over an hour, and quite frankly, both of their butts were not far from numb when Robin brought his bike swerving onto the forest path.
"Robin, would you mind telling me where we're going now? If this is another prank I swear-"
"No no no! It's not, I promise! Do you think I like the idea of eating my own liver?" Taking a deep breath, he tried again in a calmer voice. "It's a surprise, but like I said, it doesn't include misery. Quite the opposite, if I'm not too far off here."
Raven's stomach twisted, after his prank last year she really didn't like the idea of going into a forest after he had announced that very day that it was prank time. Well, if it was a prank maybe she guilt him into giving it up. "All right, Robin. I trust you," she said softly, tightening her arms around his waist and leaning against his back.
He swallowed hard, feeling a blush creep into his face despite the frigid breeze. "G...good, that's good Rae..." he mumbled, somewhere up on Cloud 9... That didn't last long, however, as he nearly crashed head-on into a tree. He did his best to keep his head clear after that.
Raven smiled. She was pretty sure that this wasn't a prank, just a little road trip like he said, and relaxed. Teasingly she asked, "So, uh Robin, would you mind watching the road?"
He stuttered unintelligibly, face going from slightly flushed to beet red. Robin was so distracted that he let out a gasp when he realized just how big of an oops he had committed. Batman made him swear that he'd have Raven close her eyes in the forest, and the point for that was very much passed up. "Uh, Rae? Um...you need to um..." He felt so stupid asking this of her, but he had to. "Could you just uh...close your eyes for a while?"
She gazed curiously at the back of his helmet. Reminding herself that she needed to trust him, she closed her eyes.
"Okay, my eyes are closed, but why did I close them?"
"Um..." He dug deep and found a feeble imitation of his usual commanding tone. "Because your leader told you to. Now pipe down and we'll be there in no time."
"Oh," Raven was glad he couldn't see her, and she couldn't see him, that last comment had hurt. "So this is team business?" She chided herself, a little too much of the pain escaped.
Robin's mouth dropped open...there was no turn indicator on that one. "No! Um...I...I was just teasing, Raven!" Geez, couldn't he ever make a joke? Now he had hurt her feelings...ugh things just weren't going to get better tonight were they?
To his relief, at that moment he reached the end of the path, and the small motorcycle zoomed its way into the Batcave. To his relief, at that moment he reached the end of the path, and the small motorcycle zoomed its way into the Batcave.
Raven slowly opened her purple eyes and studied her surroundings carefully. Where in the world had Robin brought her? No doubt if she asked him he'd say I brought you here, so she finished surveying the scene. It was a large cave, with loads of equipment, and a man-a man in a batsuit. A slow smile spread over Raven's face. He had brought her to see his mentor.
Robin helped her off the motorcycle, taking off his helmet to reveal a slightly apologetic frown...before it vanished and he returned to his unemotional state. "Well, we're here."
"Robin, you're finally here!" Batman's voice echoed through the cave as he spoke. Batman walked casually over to the two titans. "You must be Raven, nice to meet you." He extended his hand.
She shook it, "Nice to meet you too."
Robin forced a smile, then remembered why this was a bad idea. He didn't like the Batcave, never had, never would. Jumping a little as a high-pitched shriek echoed through the room, he cast a wary glance upward.
Batman noticed Robin's wary look. "Yeah Robin, I know bats are bad luck indoors. I can't believe that you believe in all that superstitious mumbo jumbo. If you haven't notice my luck has been just fine."
Raven stared. Robin was superstitious. Since when?
Robin snorted loudly at that last comment, earning a disapproving look from Bruce. "So I don't like flying rodents as much as you do. What does it matter?" He was beginning to wonder why he had come here...was making Raven happy worth this? ...Was she even happy?
Raven removed her helmet and faced Robin, her smile still in place. "I didn't know that you were superstitious. Hmm . . . you really do learn something new everyday."
Batman listened to the silence for a minute or so, then began again, "So Robin, what's the special occasion. I actually get to meet one of your team mates." Bruce was laughing on the inside, what fun was it being someone's father figure if you didn't get to embarrass them once in a while.
Robin's face turned instantly firecracker red, and he glared daggers at his mentor. There was absolutely nothing to say to that question...ooh he was gonna kill him, kill kill kill!
Batman was amused by Robin's facial expresion. "This visit wouldn't have anything to do with that would it?" Behind Batman's twisted jokes, there was an actual amount of curiosity. He knew that Robin would never bring anyone to visit again-but it may just be worth it.
Raven was horrified. What exactly was this man suggesting?
Robin's hands balled into fists, his jaw clenched, and his face went from bright red to pale green all in the space of five seconds. He didn't trust himself to open his mouth, even if he had wanted to say something.
Feeling slightly sorry for his behavior after seeing Robin's new color, Batman decided to see if he could redeem the visit. "Well excuse me for being a bit blunt but I hope you can see why I'm not sure what the intentions of this visit are."
Robin scowled. So now this was all his fault. "If it was a PROBLEM, you could have SAID SOMETHING ON THE PHONE!" he yelled, fumbling for his helmet and handing Raven hers. "I should have known this was a stupid idea, coming back here. Don't worry, I'll be gone and out of your hair again--" Turning the keys in the ignition, his eyes widened, then squeezed shut as it gave a weak cough and stopped. No gas.
"There wasn't a problem, just after you hung up I started thinking about your last few visits and I couldn't really think of a reason why you'd be coming. I don't see you as often as I use to, so I don't really know what kind of person you've become and I can only hope -" he stopped. "You know where the gas is, feel free to use some. If this visit hasn't made you hate me forever, well the I guess I'll talk to you later." Bruce turned and headed up the stairs towards his house talking softly-at least in his mind- to himself. "He wasn't here that long, he probably didn't learn anything from me. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. Only thing he could've learned from me would be exactly what I was suspicious of, and that is one thing I definitely don't want him to become. . . . "
"And you say I'm the one who always walks away." Robin, though he had no clue why, was starting to feel...guilty for yelling at Bruce. The way he said that last bit was almost...sincere? Maybe he really was just concerned for his well-being...but how could he think something like that?
Batman just kept walking, "Well I've said a lot of things. Apparently most of them are wrong. I've got a big meeting tomorrow so I'm going to bed. Buh bye now."
Robin stared open-mouthed for a moment, then glared. So like Bruce, to just give the guilt trip then walk away and let him boil in it. In no time the bike had a full tank of gas and he and Raven were burning rubber. That was the absolute worst date in existence, including a certain Halloween prank.
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