Weaver dodged two flying discs, nimbly flipping between them. He grabbed another with his grappling hook, throwing it at the tower that had launched it. The launcher jammed, filling up with the explosive devices and blowing up. He used the jets in his boots, zipping between towers until he reached the end of the course.
"Good. Now's the speed part. You need to get through as quickly as possible, before the barriers drop down," Robin announced. Weaver sprinted, using the jets to speed him up at every step. He made it through each barrier right up until the last, which dropped earlier than expected. He slid on one leg, trying to zip under it, but it dropped too quickly. His waist was right under it; holding out a hand futilely, he wished as hard as he could that it wouldn't crush him.
And it didn't.
"What? Is he even touching it?" Cyborg asked.
"Doesn't look like it. Raven, did you do that?" Robin asked.
"No. That's him." Nightweaver stood and, using both hands now, telekinetically lifted the massive barrier. He threw it up, despite the mechanisms fighting him every step of the way, and walked out from under it before letting it drop.
"Good job, Weaver. You didn't tell us you could do that."
"I didn't know I could do that. What next?"
"My turn." Robin jumped down, drawing his bo staff and standing in front of his new teammate.
"Come on."
"Me? Against you?"
"Yeah. No grenades. This is for hand to hand."
"Hand to staff."
"True." Weaver grabbed his staff with his hooks and threw it away.
"Okay then?" Robin said, adopting a martial arts pose. He punched at Weaver, who dodged to the left and put Robin in a headlock. The martial artist tried to throw him over his back, but Weaver hung on, diving to the ground and rubbing Robin's head in the warm sand. Robin pushed himself up and flipped Weaver over his shoulder, forcing him to let go and roll into a standing position. He shot at him with grappling hooks, gripping both of his arms and pulling him into a flying kick. Robin headbutted him and the two both fell to the ground, dazed.
"That all you got?" Robin asked cockily.
"You really want to ask that?"
"I do."
"Am I allowed to use my toys?"
"Just not those grenades."
"Fine." He shot at the ground in front of him, using the leverage to fling himself at the Boy Wonder, and launched four tasers at him. He only let them stay in for a few seconds before pulling them back out. He stood quickly, to Weaver's surprise.
"I've got a few tricks, too." Robin threw a birdarang at him, which he dodged easily, watching it sail by. He turned to taunt him, but Robin axe kicked him, sending his head into the ground. Weaver grabbed his leg and tripped him, twisting his foot to the side as he flipped over, landing in an awkward crab position but pulling Robin's ankle to his head.
"Alright, enough!" Cyborg yelled. The two let go of each other and stood. Much to Weaver's surprise, Robin extended a gloved hand. He shook it and smiled, but realized that under the mask, there was no point.
"Thanks, Robin."
"No problem. You're good."
"You too." They went up to the staging area with the others.
"So I see you two seem to have made up overnight," Cyborg said.
"Just trying to not be so hostile. I think he could be a valuable member to the team, if he plays his cards right." Starfire still refused to speak to Weaver, which was very unlike her.
"So, what now?"
"Well, usually by now somebody tries to commit some kind of crime, but nothing's happening."
"Hey, I just remembered I needed to tell you something. Slade's building a sonic bomb. It'll take him weeks to finish, but I have the plans in my hideout. I could dismantle the whole thing quite easily."
"Good to know. Thanks. I'm gonna head up and shower. I'll talk to you guys later." Robin left, and Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire followed, leaving Weaver and Raven alone.
"So, why do you still wear a mask?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if you're homeless, then you don't really have an alternate identity to protect. That's why Robin wears a mask. He still has a life to go back to, unlike the rest of us. So what are you hiding?"
"You want me to be totally honest?"
"I'd know if you weren't."
"I wear it because it completes the look."
"When's the last time you took it off?"
"A couple of days."
"You didn't even take it off to eat yesterday. You just pulled them apart."
"Are you curious to see my face or something?"
"What difference does it make?"
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter." He unwrapped the bandages from around his head after taking his hood down, revealing short, dirty black hair. He continued unwrapping, slowly unveiling his nose, which looked like it had been broken several times and never fully fixed, then his scarred upper lip, his mouth, and his chin, scarred as well.
"Happy?"
"Where did you get all of the scars?"
"Busting through windows, mostly."
"And what's wrong with your nose? Sorry if I'm being pushy or insensitive. Just wondering."
"I wasn't always good at stealing. Got rifle butted by a few guards in the beginning." She nodded.
"You haven't taken your hood down since I got here."
"I don't need to."
"You're reclusive, aren't you?"
"What was your first clue?"
"You don't have to be."
"I don't trust people."
"You trust me."
"Because I know how you feel."
"But I don't know how you feel."
"I can't do this."
"Why not?"
"My powers are fueled by emotion. I can't be distracted like that." She floated away, leaving him alone.
"No." He shot a line at the top of Titans Tower, following her and slowing down when he got near.
"Raven, what do you mean?"
"I mean that I can't just decide to have a relationship."
"Well... What are you feeling right now?"
"You don't want to know what I'm feeling. You're asking all these questions so that you can try to come out of this conversation winning. You don't actually care."
"I do."
"Fine. I'm angry at myself, and angry at you for not just leaving me alone when it was obvious I wanted to be. You've ripped open old wounds and now I feel alone again. I'm starting to regret getting you into this team and I'm trying to stay happy but I know that I can't because you won't drop this."
"No, I won't. And I'm sorry that I'm making you feel bad. But I do care. I've cared for a while."
"And now I'm creeped out."
"Sorry. I guess you knew, so yes, I have had feelings for you for a long time. Sorry if I want to follow through on them."
"But you need to understand that I can't just jump into something."
"Alright. Just answer one question."
"What?"
"Do you feel anything for me?" Raven froze.
"I.. I do."
"Good enough for me. We can do things however you'd like." He smiled at her sincerely, and she looked down.
"You want to be alone now, don't you?"
"Yeah. Kinda."
"Alright. I'll talk to you later." He resumed his ascent, landing on the roof. Robin was standing on the roof, and he motioned for him to come closer.
"Yeah?"
"I was acting nice, but I still don't want you here. I don't know how you've tricked Raven, but you're slimy. You're scummy. I know your type. You don't belong here, and you shouldn't be here."
"Fine. You want me to prove myself? Give me something. Anything."
"I want you to leave."
"That's not going to prove anything."
"Fine. I want you to spend a month in jail. Real jail, with real criminals. You don't get to bring any of your toys. I want you to start a fight every single day and I want you to win every time. I want you to make enemies, as many as possible. I don't want a single person in the criminal underworld to have a scrap of respect for you."
"Deal. But I've got a question."
"What?" he snapped.
"What the hell is your problem? I've spent years trying to get you guys to take me in. You told me I wasn't good enough. Then I try to prove myself and you just say that I'm a criminal. You come up with every excuse in the book to not let me join up with you, and then you say you want to throw me in jail instead of have me in your team. What's the problem here? Are you worried I'm gonna turn out just like Terra? Are you trying to push me away so that I can't betray you? Because at this point I'd almost rather go and work for Slade. At least he's willing to take people in. You think you're too damn good for me or for anybody that's ever done anything wrong in their life. What if Cyborg shoots at somebody and misses and kills somebody? Are you just going to throw him out? What about Raven causing the end of the world? Shouldn't she be in jail for being responsible for the death of every single person in the world? Starfire causes damage constantly. Vandalism. Same for Beast Boy. And you aren't even old enough to drive and you have a motorcycle. Every single one of you is a criminal on some level."
"We aren't criminals. We do what we do to help protect the city."
"The ends justify the means, huh? Alright, Slade."
"If you *ever* call me that again, I'm going to hurt you."
"Oh no, Batman's little sidekick is threatening me. You're pathetic, you know that?" Robin raised his arm to punch Weaver, and he did the same, but a moment before they made contact, their limbs were enveloped in dark energy and they were separated.
"Both of you, stop!" Raven yelled.
"How long have you been there?" Robin asked.
"The whole time. If you two hadn't been so busy arguing you would have noticed. Weaver, you aren't going to prison, and you aren't going to work for Slade. You're gonna stay right here and you're going to have a home. Robin, we aren't going to have any more problems. You don't have to live in this dimension anymore if you don't want to. He's right, you're worried about a repeat of Terra. So was I. I've been in the deepest recesses of his mind. He's sincere."
"When were you...?"
"When you were asleep. Sorry. I had to be sure."
"It's alright."
"Like I was saying, Robin, you need to just stop. He's here, and he's not going away unless he decides to. We're a family here. You don't have a family. Beast Boy doesn't either. Cyborg's dad has all but disappeared. My father is a demon and my mother is in another dimension. Starfire's family is on another planet. We're all that we've got. And he needs a family too."
"What happened to his family?"
"My parents were killed in a mafia drive by. They hit the wrong people." Robin looked surprised.
"And what happened to yours?"
"We were circus performers. The mafia cut their trapeze ropes."
"What family?"
"Falcones."
"Same."
"There. You've got a common enemy. Can you make up now? I don't want you two fighting anymore."
"I'm sorry, Weaver."
"It's alright. I'm sorry for what I said." She released them, and they shook hands again.
"So... What do you want to do, Weaver?"
"I think we should restart."
"Alright. Robin."
"Simon Weaver." He cocked an eyebrow.
"Your real name?"
"Yeah. Raven's right, I have no alternate life to protect. But I'm still going to go by Nightweaver, just because it sounds cool." They both smiled at the comment.
"I think we're gonna get along just fine."
"I hope we do." Raven floated down next to them, stopping Weaver.
"Go on, Robin. I need to talk to him."
"Alright." He opened the rooftop door and started down the stairs.
"He still doesn't entirely approve of you, but he feels like he has a link to you now. Just leave it alone for a bit, take it slow."
"Thanks, Rae."
"You still aren't allowed to call me that."
"You can call me Simon if you want."
"Doesn't change anything."
"Alright. When can I call you Rae?"
"When I feel like I can trust you with my life."
"You don't already?"
"We've been teammates for two days."
"Okay, you have a point. Well, it's progress."
"True. Let's go."
