Part 1 for my series: Hopes for a Bastard!
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Promoted to Glorified Bat Sitter…
Dick had never found it easy to lie to Raven, even before she had entered his mind, and yesterday he while he hadn't fully lied, he hadn't told her everything. He wondered why it was that he couldn't ever lie to her? Pondering this he came to one conclusion: It was her eyes, Raven's eyes could pierce one so it appeared that she was gazing at the soul and she could feel everything. Seriously, he'd only seen the woman psyched out once, and it was because of a horror flick which had startled her so bad that her normal shields had been sabotaged with by the team's emotions.
Which was why he was fidgeting when he walked into the Titan's office and looked upon his fellow Titan founders who were here to discuss the new topic of the League's will.
"So how did friend Raven take the news?" Starfire asked eagerly.
"Uh…"
"He didn't tell her," Cyborg smirked.
"Dude! She's going to find out when the horde show up tomorrow and expect her to teach them!" Beast Boy pointed.
"I know I know!" he huffed as he sat down. This wasn't his idea, no, it had been Bruce's, perhaps by having Raven teach Tim and Stephanie to work with Damian and not kill each other. He was to blame for this bad idea though, Dick had mistakenly reported to Bruce that Raven's influence on Damian was calming the boy down. Oh, he knew that Damian was far from in control or carefree and innocent (the kid might never be), and he knew that Damian didn't fully trust Raven. But Raven hadn't forced it and her bond with the boy was having the desired effect, Damian was learning teamwork and trusting the unknown.
There was a reason no one could find Raven's file on the Titan mainframe.
Well, naturally Bruce was seeking for Tim, Damian and Stephanie to work together so they didn't destroy Gotham while they were hunting bad guys, and Dick got the logic behind this move. He did. He also knew that his empath friend could only handle so much before her concentrated control snapped and everything came crashing down upon their heads.
Also, there was the matter of the coming 'recruits'. After a blundered 'mission' which had required him, KF, Jinx, and Starfire bailing out Wonder Girl, Supergirl, and Jonathan Samuel Kent a.k.a Superboy. They were now officially 'teaching', as directed by the League. Dick and Star hadn't bothered to pointing out that they didn't work for the League, because at that point it was really about the kids and getting them somewhere safe where they could learn.
But the expansion had gone past those three to include, Miss Martian, Artemis, Bart Allen (who had accidentally time traveled to this time period and was stranded here until they could find a way to get him home) and Garth's young protégé and friend, Kaldur'ahm. Roy had immediately said it was up to the original team for the mentoring, and Bumblebee had pointed out that her division of the Titans wasn't exactly best for teaching and the other divisions were already stretched thin. Dick was inclined to agree, but these kids needed to be with the Titans and not the League; if only for their own safety until they could handle the League crises.
The last thing anyone needed was another Jason Todd, Jason's death had been a devastating blow to his entire family, both as the Bat family, and Wayne's family. It was a large part of the reason Dick had gone through the trouble of stealing the Robin gear; aside from his attempt to keep the mantle from going to Tim (not that it that stopped Tim), and running to San Francisco to form a group of heroes. They weren't sidekicks, no, they were their own heroes who could work with their teams and mentors. This had been a hard lesson for him to learn, but with the help of his friends, and their patience they had built the Titans. And while the League only saw a place to kick their sidekicks off too so they didn't get hurt, Dick knew that they were so much more.
Case in point: Trigon.
Trigon was a monster that only Raven had been able to vanquish, no one in the League could have done what she did. And he knew it. Hell, everyone in this room knew it! He even had the footage to prove it, though he'd left it to Cyborg to safely encrypt that and lock it away where the League wouldn't be able to see it. If Zatanna got her hands on that footage she'd crucify Raven.
"We must tell Raven," Star stated firmly.
"Yeah, we also need to tell her not just about the new training gig that's going past Terra, Damian and Jaime, to a whole fleet of teenagers," Gar pointed out.
"Speaking of expansion, my friend has agreed to help us since we're expanding some more we're going to need some tech support, Barbara agreed to help us out," he said and watched as Star stiffened, her green eyes narrowing then and he felt a forming headache. Again, this wasn't his idea; but holy shit did they need help! They weren't like the League who had limitless resources and legions of adoring fans willing to write a check to fund shit like the Watch Tower or the Hall of Justice; even Bruce felt the League was getting too flashy. Bruce! The king of dramatics! However, the Titans were modestly funded by their own supporters and their mentors, but they were stretched a bit too thin for true functioning without a coördinator, which is where Barbara came in. The former Batgirl had decided to go about expanding her role outside the Bat family and Bruce had asked her to come here to help watch over the family. She'd said yes, and he was just happy not to be in charge alone, besides Dick had a feeling Bruce was going to savor his alone time.
"Did you tell Raven anything?" Cyborg asked with a slight chuckle.
"Yes! I told her about Project Cadmus, the Lazarus Pit, and Slade!" he pointed out in triumph when he saw his friends frown.
"And what the heck are we supposed to tell her when there's a bunch of reckless teenagers showing up here for training!? Most of them from the Bat and Super family!?" Beast Boy demanded. Everyone frowned at him, for he was the most reckless on their team and he was the youngest Titan, right after Raven. "Come on! I'm an equal founding member of this team! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"Beast Boy is right," Star pointed out as they ignored the last outburst.
"I'm still on Team Raven, how about Star and BB take over some of the training? Then it's divided," Cyborg suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Beast Boy explained.
"Look, I'll talk with Raven, you said she was looking up stuff for Jaime in her room?"
"Yeah," Cyborg shrugged.
"Do you wish for me to come as well?" Star asked him.
"No, um… Star, could you go greet Barbara, and show her around the tower?" he sighed. Yes he knew what a cluster fuck that could be, but he couldn't leave it to Beast Boy, and Cyborg was going to work on something for him. "Beast Boy you're on kitchen duty."
"What!?" Cyborg balked.
"Yes!"
"Kay, I'll talk to Raven, again," he grumbled.
"Very well," Star grumbled as she stood and stalked past him.
"Victor, I need to ask you to run something down for me," Dick said before the last member of the team could leave them. "I need information on Slade, Deathstroke," he said as he held up the flash drive then. "On the down low, I don't want anyone knowing outside of the original Team knowing about it."
She sensed him lurking/hovering really, and if she hadn't gotten used to this peculiar trait of the Bat family's she'd have probably sent them to another dimension already.
"I can feel you there Damian," she said calmly.
"How do you do that?" he demanded, the ten year old stalked silently over to her; again, this was another annoying trait she associated with the Bat family.
"I'm an empath," she surrendered. After months of the boy studying her, she had decided it was time to give a little and take a little, she figured he was enough like Beast Boy in the curiosity aspect to miss her system of collecting his trust and information.
"Empath?" Damian skeptically lifted his brows behind his mask.
"Yes," she said as she continued to levitate.
"Raven," she turned slightly then to see Dick standing there which had her slowly standing, Damian remained where he was. "We need to speak."
She nodded, odd, he'd just spoken to her yesterday after his return, and this evening was her evening off of kitchen duties. Damian, on the other hand, seemed to think that he could get away with standing here like her shadow to hear whatever Dick had to say to her. Raven looked over at the boy who was nearly as tall as her.
"Damian, don't you have kitchen duty tonight?" she asked.
"Yeah but I'm not hungry."
"But the team might be," Dick said firmly, the boy growled as he stomped off. She knew that Dick had assumed a role model role for Damian after their initial dislike of one another had faded. She tracked Damian until he was in the tower before she looked at Dick.
"Is there more than the Pit and Slade?"
"We uh… we're taking on a lot of new recruits," he said uncertainly. Raven revealed nothing as she waited for him to continue; she was sorely tempted to use their bond to pry this time but she already knew how uncomfortable everyone was with her being an empath. And even if Dick, Kori, Gar, and Cy were her oldest friends and were comfortable with her repartee of abilities, she tried her damnedest not to invade their emotions and minds, she wouldn't violate her bond with Dick because of her desire to know what was bothering him.
"Look, it's just so no one get's killed, and you're proving to be an excellent mentor as it is, and Batman thought it was a good idea, and naturally everyone else follows his lead, so um… we're kind of taking on all the sidekicks," Dick finally managed.
Raven felt her brow twitch then.
"All?"
"Yeah, all the ones who don't want their kid to die," he explained nervously. Her eyes narrowed on him as she took a step forward to glare up at his towering form.
"And the reason you neglected to tell me this bit of information was?" she challenged.
"I…"
"Nightwing, I am not a babysitter!" she snapped, her temper running dangerously close to the surface before she took a sharp breath and centered herself again, placing her anger in a box. She couldn't lose it, she hadn't lost it in years, and she wasn't going to lose it. There would be no lapses from her.
"And I'm not asking you to be, you're still second in command of the Titans, it's just… we can't have another Robin on our hands," he pointed out and she frowned.
"That's low," she warned him.
"Raven, I'm serious, we can't have another death, they're just kids, and most are too determined to prove themselves to their mentors to take notice of their own recklessness," he sighed.
"If I remember correctly, you were plenty reckless yourself when you started the team," she said calmly. "Trying to prove your worth, determined to do it all on your own."
"Yeah, but you guys proved I had nothing to prove," he sighed. "I don't want one of these kids to die."
"How many?" she surrendered; she wasn't going to win this argument and she knew it. At this point it was best to just flow with it.
"The current three, two Bat kids, seven more," he informed her. Raven's eyes narrowed then.
"And Zatanna was alright with a demon teaching the powered youths of the Justice League?"
"Uh… no, but Batman sort of shot down all her arguments, and after what happened earlier this week which nearly killed Supergirl and Wonder Girl, he talked over her," Dick shrugged.
"And when did you find out about this?"
"Yesterday, at the gala," he mumbled.
"And the Team?"
"Last night, you were looking for answers on Jaime's beetle," he defended.
"I am only doing this so they don't get killed," she warned her friend.
"I know," he nodded as he held up his hands in surrender.
"Good, and they had better not go into my room," she warned as she walked back to the tower. She didn't mind being a mentor to others, but her inability to turn off her own abilities constantly had her bombarded by other's and their emotions. Teenagers were the worst! They had driven her insane as a young new earth teen because of all the lust and hormones they felt, and back in Azarath, while hormones weren't dead, they weren't as wild. Now she was about to be surrounded by the horde of hero teens. Mother of Azarath give her strength, she was going to need it.
Raven looked in the kitchen to where Beast Boy and Damian were winning the dinner argument, and she sighed before she felt Kori's turbulent emotions and she frowned as she walked after her emotionally distraught friend.
"Star," she called hesitantly as she looked in the main hall to see the taller woman pacing.
"Oh, Raven, I…"
"You're projecting, is there… something the matter?" Raven asked. Over the years she'd gotten better at this whole friend thing but she was hesitant to pry into her friend's and their problems.
"I… Barbara is coming to work with us," Star explained.
"I see," Raven took this as a warning that the love triangle was going to be back and in full force, like it had been four years ago before Barbara had been attacked by the Joker.
"I do not know what to do, Dick asked me to greet her and give her the tour," Star grumbled.
"I'll do it if you make sure Damian and Jaime don't kill each other over dishes," Raven traded off. Just because she had kitchen duties off didn't mean she was out of the woods. She still had to handle Damian and Jaime, and Terra; and those three seemed hellbent on not getting along. Not that she blamed Damian or Jaime for their dislike of Terra, but their united front in that matter disappeared once they started arguing.
"Thank you!" Star gasped as she surged forward, before Raven could escape she was wrapped up in a bone crushing hug then her friend flew off.
"Gotta go, Project Cadmus!" Nightwing informed her as he jogged away in his gear, she sighed seeing him head for the garage and she looked to the ceiling. The things she did for her friends. Walked to security station she started waiting for the former Batgirl.
It wasn't that Raven disliked the woman, far from it, Barbara wasn't that bad of a person, but Raven's best girl friend was Kori, and by default that meant Raven sided with Star regardless of the matter. She also did the same thing for Beast Boy, Cyborg and Nightwing. For her friends, she'd do anything needed to keep them safe and happy, they were her family, and she protected her family.
Raven didn't have to wait long before there was a buzz at the security gate. The video identified her as Barbara Gordon and Raven let the van in. Raven opened a portal, taking the van to the garage before she melted into the shadows as she walked out of them in the garage.
"Raven, I was expecting Dick," Barbara said in shock as she unloaded her chair.
"Just me," Raven answered.
"Still in charge of training?" Barbara asked her.
"You know the answer," Raven pointed out as she lead Barbara out of the garage, levitating the bags after them.
"How is everyone?"
"Fine."
"Still not much of a talker," Barbara sighed.
"Your room is in the girl's wing, breakfast is between seven and nine, lunch is served at noon, and dinner is between five and seven, all of your codes are the same, if you wish to change them change them, you know your way around well enough I suppose, if you need directions just ask. You're to set up the network how you like, the over watch lair is in the same place," Raven said simply.
"Raven," Barbara interrupted. "Thank you, I can manage if it's all the same."
"Very well," Raven nodded before she left Barbara at the elevator.
"Dick says you're getting through to Damian, how is he?"
"Fine," she shrugged as she walked away. She didn't know what people expected from her, and the last time Barbara was here it was painful for Raven. That love triangle could be felt through the whole tower, Raven had seriously considered calling Bumblebee and asking for a transfer to Titan's East for a moment of peace. Raven created a portal to her room and stepped through it as she lightly landed in the center.
Everything was going to be fine, she assured herself mentally as she reached up to her bookshelf to continue her hunt for answers on Jaime's armor.
For how long she looked she didn't know, there was a buzz on the intercom which finally broke her conversation.
"Raven," Cyborg's voice filled her room then. getting up again she walked to the intercom.
"Yes?"
"Come to over watch, there's something you need to see," Cyborg informed her. again she looked at her book then set it aside as she memorized the page number before she opened a portal; her short cut to avoid people at times, and she fell to the room with a light landing.
"What is it?" she asked as she walked to the screen Cyborg was working at.
Her eyes widened then.
"Not possible."
He looked through his scope again, his rifle pointed at the tower as he assessed the Titan's headquarters again. His breath slid out slowly when he'd seen the van pull up, focusing in on the face he'd been startled to see Barbara of all people there. It wasn't that he didn't expect her to work with the Titans, no, her friendship with Bird Brain I sort of made that inevitable.
However, he had kind of thought her out of the life after what had happened with Joker. Though he supposed she'd never leave this life, it was too fucking addicting and she'd had a talent for computers. At least, she'd had that knack before he'd died the first time, he wouldn't be surprised if Bruce had kept her around for that talent alone.
Then again, Bruce didn't discard his kids, Bruce just discarded him. Frowning slightly he'd watched the opening of a portal and the van being enveloped in the shadows and he'd smirked. So Sunshine was on gate duty.
He'd kind of been looking forward to the clash of redheads with Starfire and Barbara.
No matter, his scope slid over the compound as he assessed the perimeter for weak spots, he found two. Which gave him two places he could escape, he'd need to stow a bike there accordingly. His main concern was his escape, though he supposed he could just use Dick's belt and teleport out; because that's how he was getting in, but he didn't see the fun in that.
Pulling up he took his rifle apart, slid it into it's case as he walked back through the abandoned building.
He was a bit startled by Barbara's arrival, it meant he'd have to up his timeline, perhaps he'd go after the book before the end of the day after tomorrow. He kind of wanted to see what was going on before he did something rash and impulsive and ended up in one of his black outs which had everyone dead. Not that he minded killing, it was the blackout part which worried him. It was as if he had no control of his body or memory and no matter what he did to try to recall what he'd done, it was gone and he couldn't get it back. Which was why he was hesitant to go tomorrow. The arrival of Barbara signaled something, what he wasn't sure; he hadn't seen anything on the Titan main frame to indicate a coming change, but he wasn't going to put faith in something until he knew what he was walking into.
He was not dying for a book.
It wasn't happening!
He'd already been to hell, he didn't fancy the return trip just yet. There was a lot of shit to do, and Bird Brains to mess with.
Straddling his bike, he slid the helmet on before he roared out of the building and into traffic.
"Did he suspect?"
"No, he believes he was hired by a League member, one who particularly dislikes our little demon," she said as she walked from the shadows still dressed in her disguise.
"Of course not, stupid humans wouldn't wonder about it."
"Magic of Azarath is rare, are you certain you can handle it?"
"Perhaps I'm of the few. But that is not why I want the book, it's what's in the book I seek."
"Very well, when he has retrieved the book I will collect it," she sighed.
"Good, everything will go as planned then."
"How are you so certain that whatever is within the book is actually there?"
"Because she's a nostalgic creature, and she'd hide it in the last bit of her home dimension she possesses."
"If you're certain."
"Of this I'm certain."
The morning that came had her frowning a bit.
"Good morning Raven!" Star cheered as Raven walked into the kitchen for her herbal tea, the other residences still sleeping, but Raven knew the kids were arriving in fifteen minutes so they could be settled, they'd have a team breakfast, and then the training out start.
"Are you eager to greet out new recruits today?" Star asked as she landed.
Raven frowned, was she excited to be a glorified baby sitter of emotionally driven teens? No.
"They're just more teens," Raven shrugged.
"Yes, but you are nineteen, are you not excited to be surrounded by peers?" Star asked.
"I don't have peers Star, I have family and students," she pointed out. She had never had peers, and until she was pulled into the Titans her main goal in life was trying to make up for all the bad she'd do, and perhaps make the world a bit better before it all went to hell. The Titans were the first people she'd been around who were near her age, and they were her family.
"Yes, but this will be fun!" Star declared, Raven felt the waves of forced cheer coming off Star then and sighed.
"Star, everything will work itself out," she assured her friend.
"I do not want to think about it," Star grumbled. Raven shrugged, she could endure her friend's turbulent emotions about the arrival of Barbara Gordon.
There was a loud buzz in the tower alerting them to the arrival of the new kids.
"So much for keeping introductions peaceful and civil," Raven grumbled as she set her tea aside and darted after Star, both taking to the air, hopefully before their resident Robin could come charging out with a sword swinging at the new comers. Raven felt Damian coming, she twisted in the air as she caught the boy before he could get out the door; how the hell was he so fast!? He wasn't even a meta and she was having trouble catching him sometimes.
"No Beetle!" Raven called out as she saw the blur of blue, her powers surging out to catch him but she was diverted as she tried to catch flying rocks before Terra could start a war.
That's all for now folks!
Enjoy Give Me Back My Mind! =)
