Author's introduction: Hello and welcome to the fourth instalment of the Raven Rising series.
For readers of the previous books; welcome back and I hope you'll enjoy this bit as much as you have the others.
For new readers; welcome and I hope you enjoy. If things are confusing, I urge you to seek out the three previous books in the Raven Rising series to get the full story that's lead up to this.
Short recap: The Teen Titans went their separate ways roughly a year after defeating the Brotherhood of Evil, only Raven remained in Jump City before she vanished after a fierce battle with the dragon Malchior after three years. A years after the battle she arrived in Gotham City under the alias of the Shadow before she encounters Nightwing, who had given up being Robin after meeting Tim Drake, and slowly develops a working relationship with Batman, before the Justice League comes crashing down on her. Mistakes were made, trials were held and after a lot of trouble Batman has taken her under his wing, even when treachery suddenly reared it's ugly head.
Now it is two years later and the person who betrayed her is back, seeking redemption.
And the usual disclaimer: The Teen Titans, Justice League and the individual members are the property of DC Comics. I don't own any of them.
It has been over two years since the night he last traveled the streets of the city he fled from, as disgusted by his own actions back then as he is now. The difference is that he now feels ready to face up to his actions. So for the first time in two years he is wearing a costume, internally he laughs at the notion of calling his clothes that; a black pair of pants and the worn black leather jacket he fled in, with a piece of blue cloth roughly sown over the chest in semblance of his old costume and a piece of a black cloth tied around his head to make up for the mask. He realized quickly that he looks like a bum, with his long black hair and the beard he has grown in the time that's passed, when he saw his own reflection in the motel room he tried it out in.
"Wonder if they will even recognize me?" He asks the night, feeling oddly at peace with himself as he crouches down and picks up the portable projector he had picked up from a junk yard. "Well, I am ready." He says as he turns it on, shining its light and the painted symbol onto the clouds above. "Come and get me." There, he waits, on top of the skyscraper belonging to his old partner and mentor.
Nightwing's P.O.V.
So here I stand waiting for them to come, I wonder how much has changed since I left? How much has Tim grown? Is Alfred still with us? Is Bruce for that matter? Is Raven still here or has my actions driven her away as well? I wouldn't actually be surprised to hear if she had gone to Themyscira and forgotten about the rest of the world, but in my gut I doubt it, unless I broke her so badly that she lost faith in herself and everyone else, but I've prayed she remained as strong as I know she is.
Then I start to wonder if I will be met with a fist or a foot first? Will they even talk to me anymore or am I just wasting their time? Also I wonder how much of my action is known beyond the cave, heck I've wondered if they have a wanted poster with my face on it on the Watchtower? But deep down I doubt it, if Bruce had wanted me caught, I wouldn't have made it out of the state.
I chose this building because I want to at least say something before they jump on me, if that is what they do, and not just end up being on the receiving end of Bruce's boots stopping a glide kick. Also I chose this because I hope that if I send it from here, that they will know that it's me and not some jackass pretending to be me to lure them out. Of course I know that they could simply choose to jump down from the jet passing over, but it's noisy and I have a chance to get out of the way in that case, if I want to. I am telling myself I should take a kick, but I know my reflexes will have me roll to the side.
After about twenty minutes of waiting, I am beginning to doubt if they will show, Bruce has a demand of 15 minutes on response times for this part of the city when travelling by car. But who am I kidding? I could have missed the signal from police HQ while making my way up here, they could be in space for all I know, I just hope that is not the case. Of course they could be fighting to get up the stairs like I was. I'll give them 10 minutes more before I have to leave.
I can hear the city below me, still the busy, buzzing, metropolis I grew up in, the sound of cars moving and sirens that are almost constant in this city, in one part or another. I even pick up the humming flaps of a helicopter I can't see that seems to be coming closer, but I wave it off most likely the police. Could even be one of the few remaining blimps the police used to have, recent times had begun to catch up with the old craft's and they were being slowly decommissioned when I fled, but I have seen one hiding in the clouds since arriving. Actually that has me considering turning off my projector in case they decide to look closer, but I decide against it, even if they see me from afar they should recognize me. And even if they do arrest me, for trespassing on private property, it's a way of getting Bruce's attention, since I doubt he'd want my arrest becoming public.
Leaving the projector on the ground I walk over to the railing to look at the clouded sky, hoping to spot the jet I am almost certain they will use before they arrive.
I end up stumbling back when I take a look down the building and feel as if my head was about a few inches from being sliced off as the rotors of a black attack helicopter rises up to hover over the building. I can see it is obviously not military or police, but looks a bit like an Apache, it is completely black with no identifying marks on it from what I manage to see before a powerful projector mounted on the choppers side light's me up, blinding me while I hold up a hand to shield my eyes.
The chopper slowly glides to the side as I follow it, wondering if I was to be hailed or shot. I wonder who it belongs to? Bruce wanted to have a helicopter in the past, but it was always just a wish he couldn't really find a proper application for.
I feel someone behind me then everything goes black for me as I feel the choke hold make its presence felt around my neck arteries. "Damn! Whoever that was, is good..."
I wake up to the squeaks of bats and a running of a river, I can never forget that sound and the place associated with it; I'm back in the Bat Cave. Opening my eyes, I am confirmed in my suspicion of where I am and that someone is next to me. Turning my head I see him staring at me, hiding in the shadows of his cowl, expressionless and as threatening as I remember him; Batman.
"You've been gone a long time." He says.
"I have." I hear several metallic clunks from somewhere, but I know my focus has to be on the man leaning over me.
"Why have you come back?" He asks, not the warm reunion I had hoped for, but it was a very far off hope anyway, Bruce wasn't quick to forgive.
"I am ready… to face up to what I did."
"You crushed her heart, her trust, my trust and a lot of other people's trust in you. Why should we even bother?" He asks quietly, and I understand; what I did, also reflected badly on him and with his usual demands from everyone else, it would have been a disaster to his reputation.
"I ran instead of facing up to what I did, I am here to receive what that means." He stares at me while the clanking continues in the background, it must be a common sound because he gives no indication of hearing it.
"We expected you last year." He says after a moments stare before stepping back from the medical bed I am lying in, I am surprised and it shows, I guess. "We were beginning to wonder if you had given up entirely."
"You were expecting me?" I ask, I thought he would have forced them all to forget about me.
"We know you." He says without elaborating as I sit up for starters before swinging my feet over the edge and stands up.
"You do." Somehow I am not relieved that he has not mentioned my name or taken off the cowl as the clanking and clunking continues. "What is that?" I finally ask.
"Maintenance happens after each flight or drive, you know how it is." He says before heading up the stairs, with me following behind him. I remember the other vehicles receiving similar treatment, but not being this noisy.
"Got a machine to do it now?"
"No." He says as we step up onto the old parking platform.
The car is new, I notice, instead of the old long model, a squat tank-like car is parked in its place, next to three bikes, Robin's in red and black and two almost completely black ones, but not in the same design, I get a little anxious and excited that I see three bikes and not two.
"She's still here." I say with some relief in my voice.
"She is, but she is working." Bruce replies as he stands in front of the computer, a new model, probably the latest, from what I know, he could be getting a new each month. "Wait here." He says before walking down the staircase on the other side.
I take the seat and look at the pause screen on the computer, a big white bat silhouette, I get the feeling he wants me to see what he has running behind the screen since it's not locked, so I brush the mouse pad with a finger. The page title hit's me like a ton of bricks; 'Titans Reborn'.
June 15th saw the official opening ceremony of the Titan's Tower on Angel Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, attendees were city officials, press, senior members of the Justice League and many citizens. Cyborg, once a member of the first Titan team from Jump City, now current reserve member of the Justice League, had this to say;
"We had this idea when the Justice League announced its intention for a recruitment drive amongst younger heroes. We knew some would not make it in the first go, so we decided to teach those who unfortunately did not meet the League's standards how things should be done. From here I hope we can help these young candidates mature as people and as heroes, one day ending up joining the League. I hope the good city of San Fran will receive these young people well and know we will work hard on keeping y'all safe."
I stop reading the rest in favor of staring at the paper article in dumb amazement and surprise, and at the picture beneath it, depicting a group of youths I can barely remember meeting, flanked by four I can never forget and one I know as my own brother standing proudly in the center; Tim.
"It took forever for Cassandra to admit it was purely a gender question to let Tim lead." Her quiet voice says as I snap my head to the side seeing her standing there in costume with her cowl back, piecing me with those purple eyes, giving nothing away about what she is feeling. "You look terrible."
"You cut your hair." It's probably the most awkward way I have ever entered something that likely a very serious conversation, but it's true, it's back to the short hair she had back in Jump City.
"Doesn't get caught in a zipper and I don't risk getting foul items into it. Also I only let it grow that long because I couldn't get a scissor and a mirror." She shrugs. "Why are you here?"
It's now; make or break Richard. "I came back to apologize for what I did to you and everyone else and to accept anything that you have every right to throw at me. I know I don't deserve it, but I am also begging for your forgiveness." She stares at me for a long moment, and it plagues me not to be able to tell what's going through her head, there's just nothing in her face or in her pose that reveals it, and that's actually worrying since I am trained to see those kinds of things.
"You are living in the past Nightwing." My record doesn't really skip a beat at this, more like it was thrown across the room. "It doesn't matter to me anymore." She replies flatly before turning around and heads back down the stairs, pulling her cowl back on as she walks, leaving me to stare after her.
"What just happened?"
I can feel that he is there behind me, before he speaks up. "She does that when something bothers her."
"I remember, like she was back in the Tower, if we ask her she will deny anything is wrong." I reply.
"If you ask her." Batman corrects before passing me and heads after her, again I follow him without being asked. "During your absence she has filled your old spot on the team, but you have an opportunity of rejoining, if you are staying that is?" He asks looking over his shoulder shortly.
"I… don't know if I am heading to jail or an unmarked grave yet…" I am surprised to put it mildly; this wasn't what I was expecting.
"Is that a no?" He asks with something of an expression I know is a raised eyebrow under the armored cowl.
"I… no, I'd love to rejoin, but how can I?" I manage.
"Regain our trust." Batman replies as we walk down onto the three pads that's been built together to form the small hangar.
I just stand on the last step and stare, in the back is a new model of the jet, but most of the space is taken up by hundreds of bits and pieces of something and Batgirl sitting on the far side on the ground in her meditation stance besides a few buckets, while her powers race across the floor in front of her and into all the bits. Batman gestures for silence as some of the bits begin float over the floor at first before coming together one by one in what seems to be a well practiced manner it takes her a moment to assemble an engine before more parts begin connecting themselves around it; slowly rebuilding the machine, she is halfway done when I realize that she is rebuilding the helicopter I was distracted by. After several more minutes the huge machine is gently put down on the ground as Raven's powers run over it like electricity for a few seconds with a few more creaks and groans, I guess she is tightening the hundreds of screws I've just seen float by.
"Time?" Raven asks.
"Assembly; Six minutes, 32 seconds. Total time, thirteen minutes twenty three seconds." Batman replies, Raven sighs.
"Thought I was improving." She grumbles to herself as she gets up and dusts herself off.
"My expectations remain at fourteen minutes." Batman shrugs, it seems there is some kind of communication between them because Raven just nods and flies up to the top platforms and disappears.
"Could Raven and Bruce be communicating telepathically?" I wonder But I don't want to assume that, it would be too personal for her to establish the bond with him and he wouldn't want someone in his head. "Thought you couldn't find a reason to get one of those?" I ask nodding at the helicopter, distracting myself from the unspoken question.
"We did. Gotham's underworld erupted into another war four months after you left. Dent instigated it; he had the Southside Cobra's attack the Devil's Brigade on the west side. Snakeskin's saw this as an opportunity to expand their own territory and attacked the Falcone areas, dragging many smaller gangs and the Mob with them, eventually they were all at it. Gang members were killed on the street, it didn't matter where they were from; they were all targets. We did what we always do and moved out, but when the car was blown up by an RPG meant for the police tanks, I decided we needed more. Small arms fire is no problem for it and we keep bystanders out of danger by having them try to shoot it out the sky."
"And it seems to be able to dish out damage as well." I note at the two chain guns, eight missile's and what looks like a Mr. Freeze pattern ice cannon nestle between the two chain guns.
"Only to scare and take out empty vehicles." Batman shrugs.
"I take it has a lot of other features?" I continue knowing that it was probably the case. "By the way, I have to say you have gotten quieter." I try not to sound like an ass kisser, but I felt it had to be mentioned, before I left Bruce had mentioned that I was difficult to sneak up on.
"I have been here since we got back from ground patrol." He shrugs after a moment. "Sent her out to see who had lit a projector on Wayne Towers."
"Raven flew the helicopter?" I ask out loud.
"Flies the jet, drives the car and bikes and pilots the sub if needed. She is the one that usually flies the helicopter when needed and she is good at it, dodged a squad of five military helicopters that wanted a closer look." He continues with indifference. "You should go get some rest as well, we begin tomorrow." He says before turning around and passes me up the stairs.
"Training?" I ask.
"Trusting." He replies without breaking stride, leaving me behind.
The night is strange to me I realize later when I stare at the cave ceiling from the guest room of the cave. I expected fire and flame, instead I get told I was expected long ago and that Raven seems to have changed even more and not in a good way it seems, more like the way she was back when I met her...only worse. "What have I done?" I ask no one.
The morning starts with a needed shower that clears my head, hopefully making me ready for a day full of new surprises, but as I dress in the clothes I arrived in, minus the mask, I somehow still feel like I am in a dark room I should know and that I am going to fall over most of the furniture in a short amount of time.
Again I am halfway between disappointed and having expected it when Batman, not Bruce Wayne or Alfred, comes down with my breakfast. Oatmeal and juice, yum, that I eat in silence and under supervision at the conference table. After I am done, I hear someone joining us, with my back to the drop into the harbor at the bottom, I have a full view as I see first Batgirl calmly walking down, followed by a grown Robin, at least half a head taller than I remember him, making him another half shorter than me and Raven. I can see he is happy, but I suspect the look from Bruce has him choke his joy. For some reason I think of this as a trial as Bruce sits down across the table from me, with Raven on his right and Tim on his left again I have the suspicion that this is all agreed on beforehand.
"For starters; we want to know where you have been." Batman says quietly. "And what you have been doing."
"In the beginning I didn't have any idea where to go, only that I had to get away and fast. Mostly I traveled at night and rested in the wilds, eventually making my way into the Canadian Rockies where winter had set in. I crashed my bike there during a storm, I was injured but was found by and an elderly couple. I left when I was well enough to travel again. But I had time to calm down and think, by then I guessed I was a man without a friend in the world, hunted by his former friends and I needed guidance. That's when I thought back and remembered that Raven had found clarity in Nanda Parbat, I thought that they could help me find it as well. So off I went, by thumb, to the nearest international airport that could take me to Asia, landing me in China. From there I traveled by moped on the dirt roads, dodging any government officials I saw. When I hit Tibet, I ditched the bike and started searching for something no one could tell me where was. I stumbled around the mountains for weeks, never feeling I was getting any closer to my goal. Finally after weeks of fruitless searching, starved, cold and lonely, I gave up on some mountaintop. Believe me, I screamed and cursed everything in sight and memory when I gave up before making my way down, feeling completely empty inside, at that point, I felt like I had nothing left to live for. I made my way to a chasm I had seen on the way up, intending on jumping from here, but when I got there a blast of air knocked me down. When I looked up again, the chasm was now spanned by a golden bridge of wood and rope and on the other side there was a huge gatehouse with an open gate in it. I thought I had lost my mind at first, but the bridge was solid and I stumbled over. At the gate, I was greeted by an old monk, who said they had been expecting me before I was led inside, on the other side there was a valley where it was spring, I collapsed from exhaustion on the doorstep. When I woke up, I was well again before being told how I could find the answers I needed. A single monk led me to a cave with mirror surfaces and had me enter it, telling me I would meditate, purge my mind of everything before lighting a candle in the darkness. I did as instructed and sealed myself inside. I don't know how long I was in there, but eventually I lit the candle. The surfaces showed me many things, good things and bad, but one gripped me most of all and I knew what I had to do. I left Nanda Parbat as fast as possible and began the second part of my journey, eventually landing me in the Sahara Desert looking for the ten-eyed surgeons. If I found them or they found me, I am not sure. But they did their job and removed all doubt I had from what I was sure I needed to do. When they were done, I went in search of mystics and trainers who would tell me about demons, in particular, and magic in general. I wanted to know what it was like to use it, how it felt to be unable to completely trust oneself. I sought out a lot of these people, asked the same questions over and over. Finally having had enough, I felt it was time to return and here I am." I say. "Humbled and prepared to face up to my crime. Batman said he was willing to give me a second chance, but I won't stay if this does not have the support of everyone."
"Is that a threat?" Batgirl asks.
"No, it's a promise; I don't want to be a source of conflict." I reply.
"The question is; how can we trust you?" Bruce asks.
"You can't by my words, but I will strive to earn it back by my actions." I reply again I have the idea of a conversation happening between the three I can't hear as they regard me for a full minute of silence.
"Your actions were what got you in trouble in the first place." Batman says as Batgirl gets up. "Let her work." He says as she stands behind my seat, I know what he means and lean back, easing my mind. I feel her fingers on my temples a second before I feel my nerve's freeze to ice and I go rigid. "After you left, we feared external forces had been at work, so we searched your room and the entire mansion for anything, we found nothing, meaning there is just something inside of you that made those bad choices, she is finding out what it is." I can hear him talk but my eyes roll into the back of my skull at the treatment as I go completely numb.
"There is a mental block." Raven says behind me. "Seems to be an unconscious one."
"Any trouble?" Batman asks.
"No." She replies as I feel like I was calming down, guessing it was her. "Ah, here we go." She sounds relieved as I regain my sight and feelings. "Another Seed, as expected."
"What?" I ask in confusion.
"When you fought Trigon, he implanted you all with a microscopic part of his personality for his own amusement, I think. But they began becoming noticeable in the others sometime after you left, we found out when Starfire, without reason, began having mood swings and temper tantrums even she couldn't explain. I have removed the seeds in the others and Slade who also got one." She explains as I feel as if something is pulled out of my head. "There it is gone." She says and returns to her seat.
"Wait, was there something inside my head telling me to do it?" I ask looking at her as it dawns on me again how fortunate we had been against Trigon, and that I was right in that it was suspicious that we got away as clean as we did.
"No, it encouraged and fed your bad side, you wouldn't notice it was there, it's taken years for it to grow into this. We suspect that the journey into the Eight Pit may have somehow galvanized them. " Batman says, I was actually expecting Raven to elaborate. "You will need to go see Fate or Zatanna about it later. Now we have to see if you need additional training." He says as they get up, Tim still without having said anything. I follow them, swiftly ending down in the training cave where I see Raven get on the mat and I get what it means and that prospect is right now frightening. I never got a chance to fight her two years ago, I think the last time I actually fought her was back in the Tower, six years ago, but I get on the mat as well, thinking I look like a bum in a wrestling match. "You have one minute for warm-ups. Don't pull punches." I nod and begin warming up, realizing my jacket is actually constricting my arms and that my pants are the same, immediately putting me at a disadvantage. Batgirl on the hand swings and stretches her arms, legs, neck and digits, getting cracking sounds out of all of them before falling slowly into a Tai chi ready stance. I never used it that much really, I prefer my own mix, but I fall into a karate stance.
I admit I will never be the most patient of the clan, and something is yelling at me to get started, once in the thick of it I stop thinking or that's how I remember it being. I circle her slowly by moving to my right; I know her eyes are following me even if she remains motionless. I move quickly at the first chance I have, aiming a kick at her unguarded mid-left section. This is when I see my error, she was expecting me to attack there and my shin is caught in a vice like grip of her left hand before she swings her right arm.
I am pretty sure something is broken after I clear the stars from my eyes, finding myself lying several feet away from her with my back against the cave wall. While she holds the pose she had when she sent me flying, I shake it off stubbornly and get to my feet. I realize it then; what Bruce said wasn't a warning, it was an order, to her. I am going to die, but at least I will go down fighting.
I switch to Taekwondo, while she switches to jujitsu, another more defensive art than what I prefer. This time however, she inches closer to me as I hop on the spot, when she gets in range, I try aiming a high kick at her head with my heavy right boot, she dodges to the left, leaving me to hit nothing as she moves forwards to catch my foot as it makes its way back to the ground, landing it on her shoulder. Here I twist while jumping, bringing my left heel into the left side of her head, she doesn't say anything, but she rolls with the hit before facing me again, while I quickly get to my feet as well. She gives me a nod before switching to Capoeira, the dance like moves reminds me of a warning Bruce once gave me when teaching me the basics, mind the cape, but Raven seems to know exactly where hers is compared to her feet.
She leaps, hands first, at me, I react by stepping aside before realizing she was not actually aiming for me with the leap, but the leg swung into my lower back from the hands stand was, it is swiftly followed by the other leg and then the first again hitting my knees, send me down in time to black out as the other foot smashes into the top of my head.
3rd person p.o.v.
Nightwing wakes up with a bag of ice on his head for the headache. "Ow."
"You could have done better." Batman says next to him. "We will have to work on that, but landing a hit on her is difficult. She's come a long way since Blackfire."
"Tell me about it." Nightwing grunts as he sits up. "She's been training constantly?"
"No, she's been around." Batman replies. "You need rest."
"If you say so. Any chance my room is still standing?" Bruce smirks at him.
"No one said you couldn't go into the mansion." Nightwing just stares at him.
"Bruce, are you all playing with me? Because I expected anger and rejection from you all, but you all act as if nothing odd has happened, what is going on?"
"Nothing, you may have spent the last two years thinking about a single event, we have moved on, mostly." Batman shrugs.
"But why is Raven acting like robot then?" Nightwing asks.
"I am going to tell you this because she is not in the cave right now." Batman says as he pulls back the cowl. "Diana and I have a steady relationship going, but I can see in Raven's eyes, she is silently hurting whenever she sees us together, because she is reminded of you. Like the rest of us, she wanted you to come back, but she is uncertain about what to do about it now that you are here. As Tim call's it she is in 'mission mode' around you, she is suppressing all emotions, trying to look at you like a case she is detached from." Nightwing nods at this.
"She doesn't know if she should hit me some more or say hello." He says. "Can't say I blame her."
"Just know it is her you need to prove yourself to." Bruce says. "You need to brush up and clean up; you have the rest of the day to do it. Now get up, Alfred is dying to see you again." Nightwing just cracks a wide smile at the command.
"Good heavens!" Alfred jumps as Richard bursts into the kitchen.
"Whoa Alfred it's me!" Richard says with holding his arms up in front of him as Alfred picks up a large knife, it is a little known secret in the house that Alfred is actually well versed in knife throwing. Something he learned as a young man.
"You sound like a man I once knew, but you look like an unsavory type of fellow that would knock over an elderly man for his wallet." Alfred replies flatly.
"Sorry, I have been a little too busy to visit a barber." Richard tries with a joke to ease up the old man.
"I should certainly hope so." Alfred says as he puts down the knife. "How have you been Master Richard?"
"Terrible." Richard says as the two embrace each other, to Richard it's the first real sign of being home.
"I hope you intend on letting me know of your travels?" Alfred says as they pull apart.
"Sure, but I have to get updated about the situation around here first."
"Ah, well get to it then, will you require anything?" Alfred asks.
"Only a change of clothes for starters." Richard replies.
"Indeed." Alfred says as he wiggles his nose, getting a smirk out of Richard.
Richard spends the rest of the day nursing his headache while pouring over newspaper's and files, bringing him up to date on the situation in Gotham and the world. During the time, he rarely sees either Tim, beyond the first one, Bruce and doesn't see Raven at all. During the early evening, Tim stops by to say hello and farewell as he had to get back to the Titans, which saddens Richard somewhat, because he is by now dying to know what the team was like
Bruce wasn't kidding when he said the gang war was bad, it had been a lot worse than the one that claimed Tim's parents, a little over a hundred had died over the months it raged, along with millions of dollars worth of property damage and this was just the stuff that was officially listed. Bruce was right that the helicopter had been needed, whenever it showed up, people just stopped fighting after the first deployment, where it had broken up a shootout between two groups of twenty armed men by turning the barricades on both sides to Swiss-cheese. After the gang war abated it had begun being deployed for other means, car chases mainly. The oddly enough chopper isn't publicly associated with Batman or the clan, having made its own name as the Haunted Helicopter because it just seemed to appear out of nowhere sometimes and disappeared the same way. Richard couldn't say who was the pilot in the video, but the skill was unnerving to watch as it passes under several low highway bridges pursuing a group of felons in a sports car, eventually turning the offending vehicle to ice with a single blast of the freeze cannon when no innocent bystanders were at risk. It had also been deployed in a massive warehouse fire on the west docks, saving a group of workers by freezing them a bridge of ice across the waters.
Also of major events he reads that the old Arkham Asylum had been burnt down, resulting in many of the loons escaping, Terra included. Killer Croc however had been recovered quickly, caught while heading back to the asylum, severely wounded, pursued by a group of armed women. Richard guesses it was the Birds of Prey for once actually getting caught on sight, but to him it sounds strange; both that Bruce would call them and even more so that they were spotted.
Of other events he takes notice of, is Zatanna's return to the stage and a more humble approach to her role in the League, a report on a strange time travelling event involving Raven, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl and Zatanna. And a few notes of major threats being averted, one alien invasion halted so far away that the Earth didn't notice, rise in Intergang activity and two mystical threats arising and being handled. Also he reads up a new wave of criminals, complete with MO's, gimmicks and goofy names. Not exactly surprised, he finds himself locked out of the Black Casebook, Bruce's archive of cases that were either left unsolved or so weird they weren't to be believed. Usually they were kept separate from other files because they were either spectacularly exceptional or so unique that they would never need to be referenced to again, hopefully.
So engrossed is he in all of the information he is reading in his room, that when he looks up, he discovers it is actually three in the morning and that he is starving, heading down to the kitchen he finds a note about sandwiches in the refrigerator and that Bruce and Raven would be gone by the time he found it and that he should go to bed.
Heading back, he realizes that he needs to search his, little too neat, room for anything and everything, since he had no idea where his stuff had gone. After spending two hours of searching, finding many an item he missed along the way, but nothing insidious, he finally retires to his own bed for the first time in over two years.
He only sleeps for four hours before he wakes up, making his way down into the kitchen in the golden morning light, finding the house to be strangely quiet which actually unnerves him, it isn't helped when he finds a note on the kitchen counter written in Bruce's strong handwriting.
Alfred and I have left for the business conference Metropolis for the weekend we will be back on Monday.
Richard puts the note down slowly as a sudden grim flashback hits him, he is alone with Raven, the one he has to mend fences with, but is unsure if it is possible. That's when he realizes, she is standing behind him.
"I made breakfast, if you want any." Richard almost jumps over the counter when she speaks up, making him spin around, finding her passing by him, dressed in a white cotton training set. She doesn't look at him as she passes over to the kettle on the stove and pours herself a cup of tea. "Tea?"
"I… sure." He says, forcing down the fear now firmly lodged in his stomach and sits down on his usual spot as Raven brings over two bowls of oatmeal before getting a second cup. He can't help but stare at the oatmeal as if Clayface is to leap out of it, for one it reminds him the situation is exactly like that morning two years ago and that he isn't sure if Raven still wants vengeance.
"It's not drugged." Raven announces as she leans over after sitting down next to him, taking a spoonful of his breakfast. She can see how the gray clouds are gathering around him. "Eat up, we have much to do today." He just sighs and digs in, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on his meal.
"So what are we doing?" He asks after finishing.
"You are getting rehabilitated, and updated on the stuff you don't know yet. We are going to work on rebuilding the trust that once existed between us." She replies before emptying her cup. "Meet me, in costume, in the cave in five minutes, go." She says, he knows it's not a debate and he storms off, wondering where they could have hidden his old costume.