Sarah, Jeanette, and Nicole had asked if they could stay in the tower for safety. After taking a vote from the team, they agreed. They contacted Jeanette's and Nicole's families (turned out Sarah lived with Jeanette as she had no family). The families almost instantly agreed to have their daughters protected. Starfire volunteered to fly to each house and pick up their stuff, but Robin said no. Joker had targeted the school, where a girl who looked like a former titan attended. There was a chance he thought she was the real deal and had volunteered Raven to teleport there and back so as to not be seen by onlookers.
When she had gotten back, Raven complained about how pink Jeanette's room was, but thought that Nicole's room was kind of cool. Both Robin and Cyborg decided NOT to visit Nicole's room after that statement.
Sitting by a window, Sarah and her friends sighed, their gaze overlooking the city they live in. "Will everything be all right, Sarah?" Jeanette asked quietly. She shook her head.
"I don't know. I really don't know."
Raven walked slowly down the hall way towards the infirmary, antidote to Ivy's perfume and venom in hand. About an hour previous, the Robin from Gotham had flown in, with a copy of everything Batman had on Joker and Ivy, sedatives, antidotes, medical research, everything they could possibly need. But after watching him take off and fly away, Raven could see why Batman always drove.
At the moment Cyborg was in his room downloading everything he could about the trademark weapons, the cures, and new medical knowledge into his computerized brain. Robin was synthesizing and recreating all the antidotes so they had plenty of it, Starfire was preparing a large feast for when Beast Boy finally woke up, Kid Flash was still sucking up to Jinx, Jinx was outright ignoring Kid Flash, and Sarah, Jeanette, and Nicole were playing the gamestation trying to keep their minds off of what happened.
Opening the door to the infirmary, Raven stood still for a few moments and just watched the sleeping green teen. His hand looked to be fully regrown, he was sleeping naturally with a serene look on his face. That morning they took him off of the sedatives, and aside from the occasional coughing fit and raised blood pressure, there didn't seem to be many side affects going on. But they still didn't know what he was dreaming about. Shaking her head slightly, Raven entered and sat down next to Beast Boy's bed. Her eyes passed from his face, down his torso, back up to his face. There were hardly any emotions rolling off of him. No sorrow, no fear, no anger, no excitement, no anticipation, he was just peaceful. Content. Her eyes glanced around the infirmary with a will of their own, even going up to the camera watching her every move. A wave of her hand and a slice of black magic covered the lens of the camera.
Sitting back in her chair, keeping her eyes pointed straight at the door, she felt one of her hands slowly brush his forehead. Barely grazing his hair, she settled herself down, maintaining a constant view of the door, as her hand grazed the green teens hair.She could wait until he woke up before he received the full antidote.
In the security room, Cyborg sat staring at the monitors with barely concealed mirth. True he was now blind to the goings on in the Infirmary, and as such had no blackmail material for the grass stai...information concerning psychological profiles on his teammates to be updated. He figured he could give them another ten minutes. Chuckling he turned his attention to the screen showing the main room. It looked like the three new guests of the Tower were having fun playing the gamestation, but their eyes told another story. There was no excitement, no spirit of competition, none of the things that made being a gamer truly fun. He could feel for them. He knew what it was like to lose all your friends and have to be separated from your family. The circumstances were very different, but he could understand how they felt.
Shaking his head sadly, he slowly got up. Walking towards the door so he could give the girls some comfort; something caught his eye. Rushing back in front of the many screens, a growing smile lit his face. There in front of Starfire's room were Robin and Starfire. The fallen files at the Boy Blunder's feet suggested he was doing something completely different than what he was now. Cyborg held up an index finger as a lens popped out of it. Chuckly softly as he took the picture, he knew this was going to make Beast Boy's day. Walking out of the room with a whistle and several plots in his head, he made his way to the main room.
Back in the infirmary, Raven wasn't quite sure how it happened; her hand had gone from barely grazing Beast Boy's head to all out brushing her fingers through his hair and rubbing his scalp. Keeping her eyes firmly on the door, she felt herself getting comfortable. It was very rare that she had any time to spend with Beast Boy.
"You know Rae, that actually feels pretty good." Raven felt her eyes widen; her hand leapt from Beast Boy into her lap as she jumped up from the chair she had been sitting in. Beast Boy was staring at her with a smirk on his face. Pulling her hood up to hide her blush, Raven almost could feel herself glaring at the young hero in front of her. "You should keep your hood down Raven. You're cute when you blush." Raven stood there completely dumbfounded. Caught in two completely different reactions, Raven had difficulty choosing what to do. Should she growl and make a sarcastic statement, or take the compliment. Unable to decide she remained silent.
Beast Boy sat up, staring around the Infirmary. "Dude, how long was I out?"
She shook her head furiously; she successfully fought down the blush. "You've been out for a full day Beast Boy. Now shut up." His eyes twinkled softly in the light.
"A day without seeing you? How could I have gone on Rae?" Raven was saved from answering as Kid Flash entered the room. Both Beast Boy and Raven watched curiously as he desperately tried to keep the door closed. Jinx's voice echoed through the door.
"FLASH! YOU BETTER GET THAT SORRY BUTT OUT HERE AND TAKE WHAT'S COMING TO YOU!" Beast Boy for some reason didn't seem fazed by this, just went back to staring at Raven. Raven could feel the blush fighting its way back to her cheeks. "Ah Cyborg, thanks for showing up. Could you get that sleezy roadrunner out of there so I can force feed him this!" Raven noted Kid Flash's paling face. Within seconds the door flew open from the force of Cyborg knocking on the door. Kid Flash rushed out of the room with Jinx hot on his trail.
Cyborg strutted into the room with a large smile on his face, especially seeing the way Beast Boy was looking at Raven. "Did I miss something?"
Raven shook her head. "Give him a physical or something, he isn't himself." Cyborg chuckled as he sat at the computer that was monitoring Beast Boy. After a few minutes the chuckling stopped. Raven felt out with her empath abilites. Cyborg was no longer amused but a dead seriousness had taken over.
"Raven? Have you given him the antidote yet?" She shook her head. Cyborg smiled slightly. "Now we all know how much he hates needles, but this may help us out. Just stand there and pose for a bit, maybe flash him a little while I give him the antidote." A bucket flew from the corner and hit Cyborg straight on the noggin. He sped around in fear as Raven glared at him with her eyes glowing red.
"EXCUSE ME!"
Cyborg backed up a bit. "This is just another of the side effects from Ivy Raven. His pheromones are still incited. It's increasing his shall we say, well he lost a lot of inhibitions and would likely act like this to anyone. So if you wanted he could be your looove slave for an hour." he said putting extra emphasis on the word 'love'. "But..." a gleam came into his eye. "Since this will only last another hour at most, maybe I should leave you two alone." Before he could continue or Raven could react, Beast Boy snagged the antidote from them and injected it into his own thigh. The two standing teen stared at Beast Boy as he grimaced in slight pain.
"Dude! That is so uncool! I'm out for a day, wake up without full control of myself, and have to give myself a shot WHILE you give us a hard time. Shouldn't you be chasing Jinx around like a lovesick idiot trying to get a date?" Raven could almost feel a certain degree of satisfaction now that Beast Boy put Cyborg on the spot. Cyborg for his part glared at Beast Boy.
"Man, this is not funny."
"Dude you're right. It's hilarious. Now get out of here while I apologize to Raven for actions I couldn't control." Cyborg felt himself pulled into the air and flung out the door. He looked up to see Raven's magic repairing the door he knocked off the hinges. Chuckling again, he got up. Turning around he saw Robin and Starfire coming down the hall.
"Hey man! Beast Boy's up and kicking. He and Raven are in there talking at the moment." Robin nodded with a smile.
"Good Cyborg. Starfire, could you please get Kid Flash and Jinx. I guess we need to hold a meeting in there while Beast Boy's in bed. Cyborg, get some chairs for us all and a table. We need to go over a few things as a team." Cyborg nodded. Robin watched the two of them leave. Glancing curiously at the door, he slowly leaned against it, putting his ear flat against the metal.
Inside the room was an awquard silence. Beast Boy was rubbing the back of his head while Raven kept fighting down the blush that was threatening to rise up. Beast Boy scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Look Rae...ven. I'm sorry. I, well, I guess you're going to kill me now?" He finished his sentence wincing as if in pain. Raven stared at him, her hood covering her entire face so her expression was hidden. Beast Boy slowly got out of bed (thankful that he didn't have one of those hospital gowns. Rather he was dressed in some shorts and a short sleeve shirt in the same style of his black and purple uniform. For some reason Cyborg wouldn't let him throw away the pink one that Starfire designed.
Pacing back and forth, the green hero kept forcing out apologies and was pretty much groveling to not get killed without being on his hands and knees. Raven watched him pace back and forth, talking and apologising nonstop before she raised her hand, using her powers to pick him and drop him back on the bed. Beast Boy's face looked straight up and his facial muscles tightend considerably. "What are you doing?" Raven asked with an eyebrow raised, which Beast Boy couldn't see due to the hood.
"Dude, isn't it obvious you're going to kill me, send me to another dimension, or in some way cause me physical agony for flirting with you beyond my control! What does it look like I'm doing!?"
"Do you want me to answer that question?"
Beast Boy glanced down, trying to get his emotions under control for the beating he was fully expecting. Raven leaned forward slowly. Closing his eyes tightly, he awaited his inevitable doom. But when something warm and soft pressed against his cheek, his eyes shot open faster than a bullet leaves a gun. Turning his head in Raven's direction, she was leaning back in her chair reading a book, as if nothing had happened. Putting his hand on his cheek, he could easily feel his face heating up. "Dude...did you just kiss me?"
Raven continued reading. "Did you see me kiss you? Did the camera?" Beast Boy glanced up at the camera, and immediately did his best to keep his laughter from coming out. The camera was covered by a slice of night. Raven had blinded the camera. Failing to suppress his laughter, he instead did his best to muffle it into a mild chuckle. To Raven he sounded like a pig with a hernia. After a few minutes he finally got his laughter under control. Raven had kept reading throughout the whole thing. "Well Raven. Do you mind if
"If that sentence has anything to do with kissing or hugging, forget it."Raven huffed out, a small smile spreading on her face, still hidden by her hood. Beast Boy took a glance at the book she was holding.
"So Raven. Any reason you're holding the book upside down?" Raven smirked again under her hood.
"Beast Boy, this tome was written in Azarath. Now since it's in another dimension you wouldn't know this, but Azarathian is read but upside up and upside down. Everything written in it is actually twice as long as once you go through you have to go from the last page to the first upside down." Beast Boy could feel his jaw drop, and it felt like it hit the floor (instead it hit a metal pole on the side of the hospital beds to keep restless patients in the bed). Beast Boy 'hmphd' to himself. He was sure he got her.
"But Raven, those books you read are like...a thousand pages long each!" He animatedly waved his arms up and down. Raven, still reading, answered in a completely deadpan voice.
"Not so. They are usually physically 900-990 pages long. There's a big difference if you decide to continue it by going backwards. The strongest of the spells that aren't black magic is usually hidden in the back. You have to master all the precepts."
Beast Boy raised a hand and had it zoom over his own head. "Dude. All I got out of there is gobbledegook." Raven seemed to be perfectly still, but the light shudders in her body, the tremors shaking their way down her arms and the caught breath that kept escaping told Beast Boy one of two things. She was either A) having a seizure, or B) keeping herself from laughing. "Raven...are you laughing?"
All at once the shudders stopped and she had taken her eyes off her tome. "No I am not laughing." Beast Boy smiled.
"But you WERE!" Raven stared at him from inside her hood. Her eyes softly glowed red. Beast Boy felt a small tremor of fear pass through him.
"Beast Boy." He jumped at the sudden voice coming from her.
"Y..yeah?" okay dude. Brace yourself. She may pummel you for saying she was laughing.
"We don't have long before the others come in. I want to tell you something...and DON'T laugh no matter what!" She had lowered her hood staring at him evenly. The only thing that seemed somewhat out of place was a very light blush appearing on her cheeks. "Beast Boy. Your hand has completely grown back." Beast Boy felt a sweatdrop grow on his head.
"That's it?" Without warning the half demon clutched his regrown hand, never once breaking eye contact.
"Maybe I should show you. I've never been good at talking about this kind of stuff." Beast Boy could almost raise an eyebrow if she hadn't started leaning in. His eyes widening in surprise for only a second, he started leaning in too.
"Raven, what is it?"
Then the door opened. Both Beast Boy and Raven both fell over onto the floor, and ended up in a rather painful...and awkward postion. Cyborg walked in the infirmary carrying several chairs (many of which were tied to his back) whistling their theme song. Beast Boy and Raven both got off the floor glaring at the cybernetic teen.
Cyborg seemed completely oblivious to them as he kept whistling and setting up chairs around Beast Boy's bed. When he was finished, he stepped back to view his handiwork. "So, you two lovebirds making out on the floor? Man I must say that was an interesting position you two were in." Laughing loudly he ignored the danger growing within his two friends. Raven's eyes had split into four glowing red ones while Beast Boy was literally growling in his throat. Beast Boy's eyes caught a glimmer in them.
"So Cyborg, is there a seating arrangement or something?"
Cyborg for the first time noticed he was in the red with those two. "Umm...if I said 'no' would you forget about the question?" Without waiting for an answer he bolted out of the infirmary. Beast Boy wasted no time and started going through the cupboards. Raven could feel her fist clench and unclench constantly, staring hard at the door. That was until something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Beast Boy was fiddling around with a chair.
"Beast Boy, do I even want to know?" The green teen kept fiddling around, not even glancing up.
"Raven, this is the best way to get him back!" He sounded so pleased with himself. Raven could feel one of her eyebrows raise of their own volition. Glancing down at the chair, a breath got caught in her throat. Beast Boy had a tube in his hand and was using it on the chair. But the label on the tube caught her attention.
"Super super glue?" Almost immediately after she read the tube, the doors opened again as everyone came in. Beast Boy, having finished up had jumped back into his bed. Raven glanced at the chair with glue on it, seated next to the most sensitive equipment. Cyborg was walking towards it, his hand placed on the back of the chair. A sudden blur went into the seat a couple to the left of it. Kid Flash was sitting in the seat that Jinx was just reaching for.
Beast Boy and Raven both glanced at each other, then back at Cyborg. Jinx was yelling nonstop at Kid Flash for taking her seat and was apologising repeatedly saying he didn't know as he just rushed in and got into the nearest seat. "Hey Jinx, you can take this seat if you want?" Cyborg said offering her the seat he was about to sit in. Jinx smiled appreciatively at Cyborg and sat down on the seat. Cyborg took the seat next to her, but was still close to the equipment so he could keep an eye on his best friend.
Robin set up a small table inbetween the seats and the bed, putting a folder onto it in front of him. Starfire was sitting next to him smiling at him. Smiling back for a moment, his emotions took a complete one-eighty as he glanced back at the folder. This is going to be the biggest nightmare Jump City has ever faced. Beast Boy still hasn't forgiven himself but we need him NOW more than ever. Turning his attention towards the teen in question, Robin felt he had question marks growing on top of his head. Is it just me or does both Beast Boy and Raven look nervous about something?
"Titans. As I'm sure that most of us know, Beast Boy being the only one who doesn't as he was unconscious, but Joker from Gotham has come here to Jump City. He somehow or another left one last trap so we can't expect any help from Batman for awhile. This meeting is to completely cover him and if you have ANY questions, no matter how stupid sounding or otherwise, don't be afraid to ask. With Joker there is no such thing as a stuid question. In fact there is no such thing as stupid." He paused to let his comments sink in to the others. Each and every single one of them seemed to be paying rapt attention.
"Now to review. We have three guests in the tower and are being kept here for safety. We can't leave them alone as there are sensitive things inside the tower...and we need to keep them away from Raven's room altogether. One of them is that Terra look-a-like that Beast Boy thought he saw awhile ago. She seems to have no memories as Terra...if she ever was Terra and says her name is Sarah. She and her friends, Jeanette and Nicole are the only survivors of an attack Joker made on their school." He took the time to notice everyone's reactions. Raven had her eyes closed tightly. Starfire looked sick to her stomach, Beast Boy and Cyborg both appeared to be going somewhat pale, and Kid Flash and Jinx, they nodded slightly, both with completely serious faces. Beast Boy tentatively raised his hand.
"Yes Beast Boy?"
"Umm...dude. What did he do?"
Robin pulled out some pictures of the scene and passed them around for those that were't there. Beast Boy almost lost all of his color (and his stomach) and it looked like Jinx, Kid Flash, and Cyborg were going through similar reactions as they hadn't seen the scene of the crime yet. "Everyone. Joker is easily the most dangerous and psychotic being on the planet. To help you understand the very little we actually can about him, we should go through a bit of his history." He glanced around seeing no objections.
"How his skin became chalk white and his hair green is the only fact we have. Something to do with a chemical accident. There are some stories that he was robbing a chemist lab with a gang when Batman stopped them and he fell into one of the mixtures going on. Another says he worked in the lab and got pushed in by the gang attacking it. Whatever the case is, it was a miracle he survived, and I mean that in the worst possible way. He somehow or another survived and is immune to almost every kind of poison and/or gas on the planet. If he's not immune then he has a very high resiliance to it. Whether he became insane because of this incident or not we cannot say, but ever since he's revealed himself in public he has proven to be a sociopathic monster. Some psychiatrists theorize that his entire personality changes on a day to day basis. He also has absolutely no restraint. He has no problem destroying building, killing hundreds of people at once, publicly humilating his victims. The list goes on and on. And since he has no restraint as other villains do, well you can pretty much guess the results." Every titan in the room had incredibly grim faces by this point. "A word of warning. Don't try to understand him. His crimes makes sense only to himself. Trying to find a pattern or some constant is impossible. Any question so far?"
Jinx raised her hand. "You know, in HIVE when we tried to scare each other we told Joker stories. But how many of such stories are true?" Robin grunted.
"All of them. Even the ones you're making up on the spot. Chances are he did it."
Cyborg raised his hand. "Man, how skilled is he if we get up close and personal?" Robin smiled.
"That depends on the personality he has at the time. There have been times where he seemed to be a master of martial arts and other times he could barely hold his own. But don't count on getting close to him easily. He always has a way out of all foreseeable situations. And most of them make no sense until he's escaped." Raven raised her hand.
"How does he fight if he has no constant to fall back on?"
Robin nodded at her. "His primary weapons are as follows. 100,000 volt handbuzzer, easily electrocuting anyone it touches. A laughing gas that forces its victims to laugh to death-literally. He also has an oversized pistol that sometimes shoots real bullets, sometimes shoots dummy rounds, and more often than not, has a bang flag." Robin scowled at the muffled chuckling from that. "The bang flag shoots out of it like a lance and impales who he shot, or sometimes just shoots his trademark gas." The chuckling stopped instantly. He noted Jinx seemed to have difficulty getting comfortable as she kept trying to shift on her seat but seemed unable to do so.
Beast Boy raised his hand.
"Dude, how has he usually been beaten if he's so inorganized?" Raven batted his shoulder.
"Unorganized."
Robin smiled a very strained smile. "Since we cannot hope to figure out what he's doing, we'll have to wait for him to do something then react to it. When that happens we MUST maintain a calm collected state of mind. Think completely logically and don't fall for his verbal traps. He's a master of getting you to lash out irrationally. The moment you do, he will win. Pure and simple. He will pick up your weaknesses and use them against you. And he won't restrain himself in anyway to do so. It's that little detail that usually lets him beat the Justice League so often." Kid Flash paled significantly from that.
"How, how many times has he faced the best of the best?"
"So many times it can't be counted. The only one who has ever caught him at any time has been Batman." Beast Boy sighed softly.
"Dude, how many people has he killed?"
Robin rubbed his temple. "Too many to count. Psychiatrists across the globe have tried relentlessly to prove he has some form of sanity so he can receive the death sentence. None has succeeded. And as long as he lives, the death toll will rise. There's no stopping it." Robin could feel himself becoming distracted, as was everyone else because now everyone was staring at Jinx as she was hopping up and down on her chair nonstop.
"CYBORG I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! I'VE BEEN GLUED TO THIS CHAIR!" Cyborg noted the tube by Beast Boy on the bed, and the smug expression the little grass stain was wearing. Feeling a sweatdrop he rushed out of the room with Jinx hobbling along, and still keeping up. The silence in the room was absolute for about ten seconds after they left. Those ten seconds felt like a lifetime, but everyone eventually caught up to what happened. Starfire hovered with a forelorn expression on her face.
Kid Flash smirked. "Well Beast Boy. I guess I owe you a favor." Chuckling the speedster walked out of the room to chase down Cyborg and Jinx. Robin cleared his throat.
"Well...I guess this meeting is adjourned."
A woman with fiery red hair walked up to the secretaries desk. "Name please." She smiled seductively and blew something from her hand and the perfume hit the male secretaries face.
"I'm Dr. Pamela Isley. I have an appointment with the mayor."
The secretary in question couldn't rip his eyes off her. "Of course. Please go on in." She nodded.
"Thank you. As a present for being so courteous, here is a gift." Winking brightly she kissed him full on the lips. Walking into the mayors office, she chuckled upon hearing the screams of panic at the body left behind.
AN: whew. Sorry everyone The long update was not something I intended. But I had written, and rewritten that scene with Beast Boy and Raven doing everything I can to keep them in character. If they were OOC, please let me know. I love to go for realism in my stories...well as realistic as a fantasy world and heroes can be. Joker and Slade will begin their underground war next chapter, while duking it out with the Titans. Please read and review. I like constructive criticsm.