Alright…It has certainly been a while. I didn't expect to be away for this long. Nevertheless… Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Too Much To Take In
Beastboy's mouth hung open as Raven's 'other' turned out to be a changeling just like him. He took in a deep shuddering breath… He could smell it now…He knew why he had a fixation on her…She had the same smell as him, except with a feminine tinge. The soft, musky scent of a beast, the one he was sure was lurking beneath her subconscious.
"BG! Are you coming?" The female changeling whipped back around to face some 'others' who had stood up at Robin's command. The girl ran towards them but before they could move, Robin held up his hands. "Wait a minute", he exclaimed, "You're coming with us?" Robin felt queasy when he saw nearly identical faces roll their eyes at him. "Of course", one of the 'others' spoke up. She was wearing a spandex nearly identical to his. Robin was feeling a sense of déjà vu. He remembered the time that the entire team had decided it would be cool to done his costume and parade around the tower. However, this was certainly another Raven, as the one on his team was still standing with the rest of the team.
The sliding doors opened again and Ray stomped through the doors, her eyes narrowed it absolute annoyance. "I had just fallen asleep…" she growled. Rachel, the pregnant version of Raven, who had been helping herself to food in the refrigerator, ambled towards Ray; and smiling in a truly motherly fashion (nearly scaring the life out of the boys), ushered an exhausted and annoyed Ray back to Raven's room, for some severely needed sleep.
With the temporary distraction gone, the 'other' dressed as Robin, turned back to the Teen Titans leader with one hand on her hip and an eyebrow raise in sarcastic query. Robin was acutely reminded of how his mother would behave, when she thought he or his father was being ridiculous. Forcing back his memories, he faced his 'dress-a-like', who was still giving him the look. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. His team had approached him meanwhile, Starfire immediately moving to his side. "Okay, these guys are not that difficult to handle, if you know how." His 'dress-a-like' nodded in agreement. He presumed she had a similar group in her world. Robin pursed his lip before coming to a decision. "Alright, show of hands, who want to go and take them down." Half the group stepped forward, volunteering immediately. The rest of the group waited, looking at Robin expectantly. Robin counted six wiling participants. He presumed with he could send them out to test them. The Hive Five were not as strong as they used to be, since their leader had deflected. "Fine", turning to Cyborg, he said, "Think you can handle it?"
Cyborg raised an eyebrow in curiosity monetarily, then grinned, "Okay, BB, Rae and the rest of you, let's head to the roof." The 'others' that volunteered took to the sliding doors to travel up to the roof, following Cyborg's and Beastboy's lead. Two of the 'others' and Raven phased through the ceiling.
Robin sighed once again and turned to the monitors, determined to see this through. He, Starfire and the remaining 'others' watched the screens as Cyborg and the team formulated a plan of attack. This way, Robin was able to categorise the abilities of the volunteers, able to monitor the situations, be ready for another attack, as well as, keep an eye on the tower and its visitors.
He glanced at Starfire and found that she had drifted towards the couch where one of the 'others' and she were chatting rather animatedly about braids, hairdos and make-overs. They seemed to get fired up and the Starfire flew to him, her face lit up as though she were watching the fireworks on the fourth of July. "Oh, Robin! One of the Raven's wants to go shopping. We both can take a look at the beautiful dress at the mall and the various accessories! Can we please?!" Her eyes were pleading with him. Robin glanced at the 'other' that Starfire was talking about and saw that the 'other' looked excited as well, which was a little unnerving. He bit his lip. For some reason he had to make a lot of decisions today. "Ok", he smiled at Starfire and watched fly elated around the room. The things he did for her. She flew back immediately to him, "Would you like to come with us?" He choked a little. He knew what that meant and he did not want to be her guinea pig. He smiled nervously, "Sorry Star, but you do have that 'Raven' with you and it looks like there might be others who want to join…" Robin glanced behind Starfire were the 'other' was getting some others riled up about going. Starfire flew to them, "Come friends, let us go!" Starfire and the entire bunch giggled and took to the front doors.
Robin looked around at the remaining few and was surprised to see a few males thrown into the mix. Apparently Raven was a male in some of the world. He smiled to himself, 'That was a weird thought'. Stepping forward and putting on his best commanding voice he called out, "Alright, the remaining alternates of Raven", at this all eyes swivelled to him and he felt a twinge of unease, "I will need to know your names and abilities. I need to categorise them while you are staying here". While he received several raised eyebrows and some amused smirks, a tall dark form stood up from the couch, silently walking towards Robin.
This version of Raven was tall (Robin was annoyed to note that the 'other' was taller than him); with black hair with hints of purple and his eyes were a darker shade of purple than the female version. His costume was quite different from the female version, His leotard covered his entire body, however, he still had that familiar belt that Raven wore and his dark blue cloak enveloped his entire body.
In a deep soft voice, the 'other' spoke up, "Perhaps I should go first." With a pause he continued, "My name is Revan, age nineteen, my abilities are identical to my 'other' in this dimension…anything else?" Robin shook his head gave a small smile in gratitude.
Revan wandered to the kitchen where Rachel (the pregnant version of Raven) was digging through the pantries. He reached over her to the higher levels to get her a bottle of pickles that she had been trying to reach. She smiled at him in thanks and they walked back to the couch, Revan being her vigilant support, massaged her lower back and Rachel nearly melted into the couch.
Another 'other' who seemed as though dead to the world suddenly popped his head up and stated, "Raegan, age twenty, abilities…well, "the man fully sat up and took off his leather jacket. Robin watched in wide-eyed amazement as the man stuck his arm out and a seam on his skin opened and small metallic parts began to form, quickly showing a completely functional robotic arm with a canon.
Satisfied with Robin's reaction, Raegan made the metal retract into his arm. "Now, the sooner we get this done the sooner I can get back to bed and the one waiting for me in it."
Robin coloured at his statement. Who would have thought that Raegan was this crude? "So you are married?" He asked hesitantly.
Raegan lifted an eyebrow in amusement, "I can't get married…"
At Robin's curious look he continued, "I'm gay". Robin's eyes widened at that and his face turned red in embarrassment.
Raegan seemed to expect this and smirked at him. However, he immediately dropped his head onto the back of the couch and dozed off.
A young female version of Raven sitting next to Raegan started giggling when Robin had started turning red. She turned dark blue eyes to him and smiled. Her hand shot to the air and she chanted "Me next, me next". At Robin's nod, she piped up, "My name's Raven, too!" She giggled at this. "I'm twelve years old…" after thinking for a moment, she continued, "I only came here for a while. I wanted to go out for a bit." She smiled at Robin and then lit up, "Do you wanna see a picture I have?" Before Robin could answer she bounced off the couch and approached him, digging a photograph out of her jean pocket. She handed him the photograph and Robin's eyes widened in surprise.
Staring back at him were four faces that he knew all to well. One was Raven, when she was about eight, looking very much like the child version of his resident empath. However, it was the figures that she was with that astounded him. He saw an identical version of his younger self in the photograph with his arm around Raven's shoulders. "We're twins!" Raven piped helpfully. Robin glanced at her then back at the photograph. "And those are our parents!" she added, happily smiling at the photograph. Robin's hands nearly shook with as he gazed at the faces, identical to his own long-gone parents. He let out a shaky breath and then smiling a little queasily handed the photograph back to Raven. 'I have to get out of here' he thought.
"Interview is over, for now, I will be in the evidence room if you need me. He hurried to the sliding doors, although attempting to do it discretely, not to show that he was running away. In his haste he failed to notice a pair of nearly white-purple eyes, following his every move. As soon he disappeared behind to doors, the figure stood up from where it was sitting in the corner of the room and glided to the doors, intent on following him.
Okay, this chapter might have been boring. I will try to make the next one exciting. I think I will put the fight between the Titans and Hive Five in the next chapter. Read and review if you wish to.
