"Remind me never to stick too close to you guys when we're fighting Plasmus." Beast Boy grinned a little as he sent his fellow goop-sodden teammates a quick glance. "Get it? Stick close—"
"We get it, moron," Raven deadpanned as she resisted the urge to shake off more goo—and further soak her teammates in the process.
She made for the showers immediately, along with Star and BB. Cyborg was down in the garage using the high-powered car washer to get grime out of his harder-to-reach parts. Robin, despite his soiled clothes, was heading to the crime lab to get a tissue sample of Plasmus' new form analyzed. He'd been muttering something about "increased instability" and "corrosive potential." Rev hadn't said a thing throughout the entirety of the attack, but that wasn't exactly unusual. Speaking of, where was he?
Eh, it didn't matter. At the moment, Raven's only desire was to grab a spare uniform, get the hell out of her soiled one, and give herself a thorough rinse-down.
"Yo, Rae? Got an extra towel?"
She arched a dark eyebrow, having already stripped down and entered a shower stall. "Is that a crack about my weight?"
"…what?"
Raven smirked and rolled her eyes in self-annoyance. "Never mind."
She didn't blame him for not getting it. It had been an extremely bad joke. Like, Beast Boy-level bad. Raven winced. Damn. He was rubbing off on her. Coming out of her thoughts, Raven realized she'd been moving on autopilot, already half-done with her shower. It never took her long to attend to herself. It wasn't that she avoided self-care; she just didn't take the time to enjoy it. Time to herself was best enjoyed outside the context of hygiene, usually over a good book or—
Her train of thought stopped as her hand froze halfway to the soap dish. Her head cocked slightly as she looked toward the bathroom exit. Was that…music?
A mellow jazz tune echoed throughout the halls of the dormitory floor, a soft male voice drifting through the walls like a soothing wave. Raven frowned in concentration as she rinsed off and wrapped a towel around her, stepping just outside the stall to grab her uniform and don it quickly. She stepped outside the bathroom in her boots and leotard, no hood or cloak, and approached the common room, the source of the music. Raven moved into the room methodically, wishing she'd brought a towel to finish drying her hair, however short it was.
An old-style (yet brand new) turntable sat atop a previously empty section of the kitchen counter, its needle dragging gingerly against a vinyl record. She gently slid her bare fingers over its wooden base, the dark finish polished to a shine. A smile twitched at her features at seeing such an old-fashioned but classy device sitting in their uber high-tech tower. A small draft hit her back, and she turned her head to see Lucas Carlisle sitting in an armchair in front of the TV, one leg crossed over the other as one hand held a book open in his lap, the other propping his chin up.
"Rev," Raven said quietly. She remembered the music when he didn't respond. "Rev!"
He blinked and started a bit, then looked up at her quizzically.
She pointed at the turntable. "Your doing?"
He shrugged and smiled a little. "Didn't really have much else to spend it on." A small laugh bubbled from his throat. "And since Vic and Gar already have the most updated games—" another shrug, "—it just made sense."
Raven arched an eyebrow and busied herself with heating up kettle water. "So you do act like a normal teenager."
"Ha ha," he deadpanned. "You're one to talk."
She shrugged in concession.
"But yeah, sometimes I do."
"Sometimes?" Raven pulled the kettle off the heat once it started whistling.
"Yeah." He suddenly appeared in front of her when she turned around, a small smile on his lips. "Too busy the rest of the time." He motioned vaguely toward the kettle.
Raven nodded her assent and handed it to him as soon as her cup was poured. She started to lift a spare tea bag for him, but he snorted derisively and waved her off. Fast as she could blink, he reached into the same cupboard where she'd gotten the bags and pulled out a different set. Seconds later, a lemon and a container of honey sat on the counter next to the kettle and his brewing cup. She watched in absent interest as she waited for the tea to steep, her teammate painstakingly measuring out portions of honey and dispensing squeezed lemon into his cup. After the proper steeping period, he stirred it gently and tested the water with his pinky.
Frowning at the lack of temperature, he smirked and rubbed his hands on the side of the ceramic, steam rising from it moments later.
Raven snorted and sipped her own tea, muttering, "Showoff."
"You didn't have to watch," he remarked.
Raven nearly choked on her tea, not expecting him to have heard her.
Lucas looked back at her with a wry grin. "'Sides, there ain't enough time in the day for anyone, much less teenage heroes." He zipped back over to his seat, amazingly avoiding spilling any of his drink and returning to his book.
Raven blinked and took another sip, frowning a little. "Doesn't mean you should always be running on all cylinders. Sooner or later, you're gonna burn yourself out."
He shrugged and shook his head, not facing her. "On the contrary, I always seem to have a ton of excess energy to burn."
She noticed for the first time that he'd been leafing through the pages of his book one every five seconds. Not fast enough to be considered speed-reading—for a speedster, at least—but definitely enough to be faster than normal. And he was somehow still finding the concentration to talk to her. Raven suddenly felt a small surge of envy—not for the first time—at his level of control. She'd been working her whole life to keep her powers from getting out of hand, and yet in just a few short years, he'd virtually mastered some of the finer points of his speed.
"Still," Raven said finally, "I don't think it's healthy to keep going like you've been."
Luke stopped suddenly and flipped the book closed, looking back at her with a frown. "What do you mean, 'like I've been'?"
She sighed and sat down on the couch across from him, legs tucked under her. "For the last month, you've been going pretty much on overdrive. Like you're still trying to earn your place on the team." She frowned harder. "Maybe worse."
He blinked. "And who's to say that isn't just my default?"
Raven tilted her head and gave him a sarcastic look. "I can feel your emotions, you know. You lost a lot of worry when Robin handed you your communicator…but it didn't vanish."
His gaze hardened slightly and jaw tightened. "And why exactly have you been probing my emotions?"
She sighed hard. "Because I'm not the only one who's noticed your intensity. And I'm not the only one who's worried."
Before he could reply, the elevator dinged open and a shining Cyborg stepped off.
"Yeesh," the half-robot exclaimed, "if I never have to see another power washer, it'll be too soon."
Rev lost his hard look and smirked easily. "See if you're saying that the next time Logan decides to stank-bomb you."
He shuddered at the thought. "Man, don't jinx me."
A sudden beep from somewhere by the elevator sent Cyborg moving toward the source. He frowned.
"Speaking of Jinx..."
Raven arched an eyebrow. "Don't tell me."
"She's ringin' our front doorbell."
An irritated sigh came from the sorceress' throat. "Way to cap off the perfect day with a perfect ending," she muttered. "Did she bring Kid Mouth with her? Because that is something I do not need to be present for."
Rev looked at her, confused. "Who now?"
"She means Kid Flash," Victor said.
At that, Luke's tea and book were both laid down as he flew to his feet. "Kid Flash? The Kid Flash? He's here?"
Raven groaned internally and rubbed her temples. Vic, please say no.
Cyborg hit a button to open the door and sent an elevator down. "Doesn't look like—"
The momentary relief from the first half of that sentence was eradicated when another gust of wind entered the common room and a flash of golden lightning followed a yellow-and-red body on its way inside.
Kid Flash grinned from ear to ear as Jinx stepped off the elevator, her expression quickly turning to an annoyed deadpan. He was at her side in a second. "Beat ya."
"Surprise, surprise," Jinx deadpanned, sending a smirk in Raven's direction as the dark girl gave them both a borderline death glare.
And then she caught sight of Luke, and her pink eyes brightened in what Raven immediately decided was a very bad sign.
"Just so you all know," Kid Flash went on, "I gave her about a two hour head start."
"Just so you know, KF," Jinx replied dismissively, "nobody cares."
The speedster looked put-out for about a tenth of a second before he was back to zipping around the room, gusts of wind left in his wake sending steam curling away from both teacups. "So where's the rest of the team? Where's Robin? Ishebeinganuptightlittletwitagain?"
"Yo," Cyborg interrupted, "nobody can understand you when you talk that fast."
Luke raised his hand somewhat hesitantly. "I can."
Raven nearly facepalmed, releasing a quiet sigh instead.
KF's head snapped toward Rev, and his body followed a moment later, the speedster up in the younger man's face and causing him to jolt back into his seat. Wally exchanged looks with everyone else in the room before returning his gaze to Luke and letting his lips stretch into a smile.
"You guys have been holding out on me."
Rev arched an eyebrow. "And Robin's always an uptight little twit. I don't know why you're surprised."
KF let out a short laugh. "Okay, I'm sold. I like this guy already."
Rev snorted a laugh and muttered, "Well that was easy."
He cast a gray-eyed look in Raven's direction, quickly looking away as Kid Flash backed up.
"Not that we're complaining," Cyborg finally said, "but what are you guys doing here?"
Jinx cast him a look. "Kid Flash finally got around to reading the report on what happened with Slade last month and decided that the original Titans needed some pick-me-up."
Luke suddenly went stiff. "He told you?" He cast a look at the redhead, then at Jinx. "All of you?"
The couple exchanged a look, KF speaking up. "Well…yeah."
Luke blinked hard. "How much?"
"Everything," came a new voice from a side hallway. Robin stepped into view moments later, casting curious looks between the newcomers and an understandably tense Lucas. "On this team, we don't keep secrets like that. Not from each other."
Raven could see Luke's hands getting sweaty, and when she looked closely enough, she noticed that the appendages were vibrating ever so slightly. When Kid Flash noticed, a rare but refreshing seriousness entered his eyes.
"Hey man, why so nervous?"
Rev blinked hard and fast, flinching as he turned to face the other speedster. "Well…I—"
Wally zipped over and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Dude, you're talkin' to the guy who's dating a former supervillain." He smirked. "Don't quite think you reached that level of doucheness."
"Excuse me?" Jinx hissed.
KF laughed nervously, holding his hands up in surrender. "Not that you were ever like that, babe…"
She rolled her pink eyes. "Uh huh. Suuuure."
He flashed in front of her and grinned. "You know you still love me," he cooed.
She glared in his direction, eyes flashing with pink flares. "There are times when I wonder." Her slitted eyes drifted over to Rev, gaining back the spark of mischief Raven had seen before. "And now, I see another far more manageable speedster." She smirked and half-lidded her eyes, approaching Rev and leaning on her knees as she brought her head down to his eye level. "Doesn't hurt that he's such a cutie, either."
Both speedsters went understandably red as Raven visibly (and audibly) facepalmed and Cyborg rolled his eyes.
"Heh…not that I don't appreciate the compliment," Luke started nervously, "but I don't go for girls that are committed."
Jinx smirked wider. "Cute and a gentleman." She cast a teasing look at Wally as she straightened up, one hand on her hip. "You could learn a thing or two from this guy."
Kid Flash let out an embarrassed laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "I'll…be sure to exchange notes?"
She smiled overly sweetly and gave him a long look as she strode toward the kitchen. "You do that."
A long, uncomfortably silent minute passed before a girly, high-pitched squeal split the air, causing Rev and Wally to jolt in surprise as an orange-violet blur crashed into the common room.
"Friends!" Starfire enveloped KF and Jinx in crushing hugs, her damp hair flying all over and slapping Victor in the face as she streaked around the room. "When did you arrive?"
"Couple minutes ago," Kid Flash gasped as he caught his breath. "Thought that after a hard month's work, you guys deserved a little break. You know, to have some fun."
"Every month is hard, Wally," Robin said as he stepped out of the hallway, putting an arm around Starfire's waist as she touched down next to him. He smirked. "We should all know that by now."
"Eh, whatever. I felt like celebrating, and the other Titans were busy today." He frowned. "We never seem to get enough time off. Gotta grab these opportunities when they roll around."
Robin frowned a little. "Fair enough." He shrugged. "I have no plans for later. What about you guys?"
"Yeah!" came an excited squeal.
The occupants of the room looked up at Beast Boy transformed from a fly into his human form somewhere above Raven, landing on the couch seat next to her. The sorceress' expression shifted in sudden shock as she jumped at his sudden presence, wondering just how long he'd been hovering there.
"I'm open," Cyborg answered a few seconds later, crossing his arms at BB.
"I am also free," Starfire added. "Friend Lucas?"
Rev had buried his face back in his book sometime during the awkward silence earlier, and his face was currently stuck in a concentrated frown as his gray eyes rapidly swept over its pages. "Nada."
Kid Flash appeared next to Raven, grinning down at her. "And you?"
Her violet eyes narrowed dangerously, prompting the speedster to back up a step. "I'm busy."
"With?"
"Meditation. Being doused in biological slime tends to put me in a rotten mood."
"Aww," BB whined, "but Rae—"
"Get a grip, Gar," she reprimanded softly. "You're seventeen. Act like it."
He pouted a bit, fang sticking out, but shut up as he crossed his arms.
A small stab of regret hit her chest, and she frowned. "But—my occupation shouldn't stop all of you from going out for fun."
Gar still looked put-out.
She frowned harder. Damn it.
"I might join later."
His pointed ears perked up as he looked at her intently.
"I said might," she emphasized to curb his sudden excitement, holding up a finger.
A smile twitched at his lips. "Like, how good are the chances?"
Her lips pursed. "Good enough to be more than fifty-fifty. I've certainly been covered in slime enough times to process it quickly."
A mild flutter passed through her stomach as she saw the grin blossom on his face. "You're the best, Rae!"
Before she could protest, he hugged her tightly and let go, leaping over the back of the couch to grab something from the kitchen.
"Then it's decided!" KF announced loudly. "So, what first? Club?" Before anyone could answer, he continued at his usual rapid-fire pace. "No, of course not. Too early! Park? Mall? Frisbee match?"
"Training?" Robin suggested, instantly getting death glares from all but two people at once, and one of them was his girlfriend. He held up his hands placatingly. "Not training exactly. More like a course I set up in case we got bored and needed to blow off steam." He shrugged. "I only configured it to function against us one or two at a time, but with a little tweaking, I'm sure I can get it to work for all of us at once."
The idea hung in the silent air for a few seconds before KF gave his vote. "Mehhh, it's inventive, I'll give you that, but not what I had in mind."
"At least it's not stankball," Raven muttered under her breath.
By the way Gar's left ear and the sides of his lips twitched upward, his enhanced hearing picked it up.
"So…Frisbee? We're agreed?"
Robin sighed, a little crestfallen, and Jinx just looked bored by the whole endeavor, judging by the way she kept picking at her nails. The participating team members gave their consent, and in short order, they were filing toward the exit after suiting up, Rev throwing Raven a sideways frown a moment before he pulled his cowl over his features.
Gar paused by the couch on his way out. "Sure you don't want to come with us? I mean, I know you want to meditate, but it's a gorgeous day out, and what could be more peaceful than an afternoon at the park?"
Raven looked up at him owlishly, surprised—not for the first time in recent memory—at how well he'd thought this through. It was…remarkable (she hesitated to say impressive) how hard he was trying to include her without being inherently irritating. It was—dare she say—endearing. And even the perpetually rainy Raven had to admit, he had a good case. Was it good enough for her to cave?
Her hesitant but distinct nod answered before she had time to overthink it. A wave of her hand was enough to summon a new cloak, its fabric going around her shoulders but the hood staying down. Gar grinned from ear to ear, quickly turning away and busying himself with the others to give Raven some space. They split off into separate modes of travel, Jinx, BB, Raven, and Cyborg filing into the T-Car while Robin took his bike and the two speedsters opted to run. On the way to the park, Robin intently conversed with KF about some topic out of earshot, BB criticized Cyborg's driving, and Raven kept staring out the window into the semi-cloudy horizon, the sun reflecting off the bay causing her to squint, even with the polarized windows.
Luke didn't really stay near any of them, opting instead to run on the water or rooftops, zigzagging across the urban landscape as if he were dodging enemy fire. Raven sighed.
At this rate, he's going to be worse than Robin when it comes to training.
The park was mostly empty when they arrived, thanks to it being the middle of a school day, so they were able to set up the game virtually unhindered. The few people that were milling about paid the heroes little attention, seeing as how they were mostly old hands who were used to seeing the Titans in public. Raven, true to her non-involved tendencies, stuck to the sidelines and flipped through a book while seated against a tree and hiding in its shade. As she'd mentally predicted, the peace didn't last long before she spotted a fast-moving object speeding straight for her forehead.
She lifted her right hand to flick it away with magic, but froze halfway up when a silver blur passed by, the incoming Frisbee vanishing with it.
"Watch your shots, will you?"
Raven blinked and turned her head left to see Rev standing there with a scolding frown on his face, the offending disk held in his right hand. He sent her a brief glance, and she sent back a grateful nod. He nodded back briefly and tossed it back into the center of the group, speeding off to face off with KF, who seemed to be on the opposite team from him. Another two minutes in, another interruption came.
"Hey, Rae! Join in!"
She looked up and gave Beast Boy a firm look. "You know I don't—"
"I know, but the teams are uneven, and the opposite side is getting their butt kicked," he jerked a thumb at the three-person team consisting of Cyborg, Jinx, and KF.
Raven looked at them, then at her book, then to BB, and sighed hard before picking herself up and dragging her feet onto the field. The changeling grinned, both fangs showing rather obnoxiously. Raven arched an eyebrow, then widened her eyes as her expression suddenly shifted from irritated to alarmed. He'd just transformed into a gigantic silverback gorilla—and chucked the Frisbee directly at her. Raven ducked just in time to allow KF to snatch the fast-moving projectile from the air and spin, throwing it back with just as much force.
Robin triple-flipped and caught the disk, then sent it back at Cyborg, who used his mechanical flexibility to bend way backwards and snap his entire body forward, arcing the Frisbee's path just out of reach of any opposing teammates, but just within bounds to make it count. A silver blur snatched the disk midair and sped to the very edge of their part of the field, using his accumulated momentum to send it whirling in a crazy arc that everyone missed—except KF. With a cocky grin, he tossed it at Raven, who caught and threw it back with a…somewhat reduced speed.
Beast Boy broke out laughing at how ridiculously slowly it was moving—until Raven got a little angry and "nudged" it with her powers. The plastic disk catapulted toward Gar's chest like a cannonball, and he shifted to a rhino just in time for it to bang against his armored head, sending him skidding through the loose grass just a little. Unfortunately, the Frisbee was not quite so durable, so moments later, all eight heroes were staring at the shattered chunks of hard plastic with varying degrees of surprise and other emotions.
Raven just gaped at the mess, red coating her cheeks like dew on leaves. "I swear, I barely touched it."
Kid Flash just laughed. "Guess you're a little more competitive than we gave you credit for, huh?"
She just blushed harder, drawing her cloak tightly around herself and hiding most of her face.
"Yo, don't sweat it!"
She peeked out to see Gar laughing and moving toward her.
"I'd blow my whole allowance on Frisbees if it meant we got to see that side more."
"No you wouldn't," Raven replied flatly.
He thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Okay, maybe not, but like half."
The other Titans coughed indiscreetly.
"…maybe a quarter."
"Still not low enough," Robin said, "but we'll let it slide." He glanced around at all of them. "So…since Frisbee's out of the question, how about we test out that course?"
A near-universal groan reverberated throughout the rest of the team.
Kid Flash placed a hand on his chin. "I'm actually wondering…"
"You have enough brain cells to do that?" asked Jinx.
"Ha ha." He turned toward Rev. "How fast are you?"
Cyborg brightened up. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
Wally smirked. "A race." He pointed at Rev. "You—" he thumbed his chest, "—and me. What do you say?"
Luke frowned a little and sighed. "I don't know."
"Come on, it'll be fun. The whole team can cheer us on." He turned to the others. "Am I right?"
"Heck yeah!" BB shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Yo Cy, we can use like, hovercams to keep track of 'em, right?"
He shrugged. "I'm sure I can think of somethin'."
"What do you say?" Wally asked again.
Raven looked at Rev, seeing hesitance but feeling poorly suppressed excitement rolling off him.
Eventually, he smiled a little. "All right, fine. Let's do it. Where do we start?"
"At the Tower! Where else?"
Rev turned toward the rest of them. "Do we wait for them to get back?"
"Heck no! They can track us with our communicators."
"Right. Shall we?"
The two speedsters took off into the distance, vanishing from sight moments later as the others began filing into their respective vehicles. Raven stopped halfway in the door, looking out into one corner of the sky with a frown and only jolted from the tug in her mind by BB's voice calling her inside.
…
It was a leisurely two-minute run back to Titans Island, where they set up on a line quite literally drawn in the sand.
"So," Luke began, "what are the rules?"
Kid Flash started to stretch. "Simple. Ten laps around the city. No physical contact, no dirty tricks. We want a clean race." He smirked. "I want to find out who's the fastest kid alive."
Rev arched an eyebrow. "Isn't that kind of obvious? I mean, you're the experienced hero here, not me."
Wally's head tilted slightly. "From what I've heard about you from Robin, you're pretty absurdly quick when you want to be. I mean, outrunning a nuclear explosion? I won't say that I necessarily couldn't pull that off, but…I do know I've never been in a position to have to."
Luke frowned and nodded in understanding. He pulled his communicator off his belt and sent an open signal to the others, receiving holographic images of all of them in response. "You guys ready?"
"All set here, man!" Cyborg answered. "Ready when you are."
Rev exchanged a look with KF, giving him a nod, then securing his communicator back to his belt. Both speedsters formed up on the line in runner's stances, coiling up for rapid acceleration.
"On your marks," came Cyborg's voice over their earpieces.
Luke took a deep breath, steeling his nerves.
"Get set."
His gray eyes narrowed, silver lightning dancing over their surfaces.
"Go!"
The two speedsters took off with a rush of sand and, a split-second later, water, kicking up both in their wake as they trailed silver and gold. The Jump City skyline and bay looked beautiful at this time in the day, just approaching sunset with the red hue cast by the setting sun. Briefly distracted by these sights, Lucas started to fall behind, and pushed himself as a result. With a laugh, KF shot him a smile.
"Don't lose your focus, man." He smirked tauntingly. "I'd hate to beat you this early."
Rev smirked back, a surge of competitive fire rising in his gut. "Don't get cocky, Kid Mouth. I'm just getting started."
Rev's use of KF's least favorite nickname caught him just off-guard enough for the younger speedster to pull ahead. As they constantly alternated positions, they could hear the cheers and commentary of their excited teammates. Evidently, Jinx didn't know who she should be cheering for, since every time one of them did something unexpected and pulled ahead, she would go wild. It wasn't long before they'd completed their first lap around Jump City, but that apparently wasn't fast enough for Kid Flash.
"I'm all for being a good sport, but don't you think we can up the ante?"
Lucas shot him a look.
KF smirked. "I mean, we haven't even gone supersonic yet. Is this really your fastest?"
He snorted derisively. "To outrun a nuke? Not even close."
Looking forward again as they approached Titans Island, Luke's eyes narrowed as they flared with lightning. Quite suddenly, two identical sonic booms split the early evening air, and water and sand were kicked up in a massive geyser in the wake of their movements. The excited cheers of the other Titans, who'd arrived back home, followed them out, bringing a small smile to Rev's features. The smirk slowly faded as a frown creased his eyebrows. Raven's words from earlier haunted him, more than he'd have cared to admit.
"For the last month, you've been going pretty much on overdrive. Like you're still trying to earn your place on the team."
Luke shook his head slightly. After what he did? After what had almost happened? How could he not feel like he needed to? One month wasn't nearly enough time to forget his sins. Every day, every time he stepped out of the shower, he was shown a reminder of his failure in the mirror, every bit as ugly as the betrayal it represented. His only consolation (and a dark one at that) was that Deathstroke had just as ugly of a reminder, not that he cared. Slade had always preferred to carry a few battle-scars anyway, and this would certainly be one of the more visible—though maybe not, with that mask he was so fond of wearing.
Essentially, Lucas found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to get more comfortable with the Titans, as evidenced by the turntable and other communal activities he'd engaged in, but at the same time…there was still this taste in the air, this discomfort. The way conversations went quiet when he stepped in the room. He shook his head. Maybe it was just him. He didn't think so. Whatever the case, the status quo had him on the team and (relatively) safe. For now, that was good enough.
So distracted was he that he failed to notice Kid Flash pushing his speed, and that he was falling behind. Muttering a curse under his breath, Rev stretched to catch up, pushing his legs and kicking up a massive dust cloud in his wake.
KF glanced back at him and smirked. "Good! For a second there, I was worried you'd reached your limit. I think Jinx would've been disappointed."
Rev snorted derisively. "You say that like I care."
Wally gave him a startled look.
The younger speedster half-scowled and narrowed his eyes in focus. "Not in the mood for chit-chat, Kid. So just shut up and run."
An instant later, the White Revenant took off, pushing himself past Kid Flash as he accelerated to nearly twice his previous speed almost effortlessly.
"Whoa, man, slow down!"
Rev smirked. "And here I thought this was supposed to be a race!"
With another lunge and burst of speed, Rev's left boot crashed down with significant force, putting a small crack in the asphalt as he accelerated even further, glass from nearby windows shattering in his wake. His vision began to tunnel as his teeth clenched and a yell that was half effort, half frustration was expelled from his throat. Suddenly, as he was streaking past a mostly abandoned section of the city, a massive blast of crimson energy erupted in the space immediately in front of him. The sheer force of the blast knocked him clear off his feet, thirty feet through the air as he sped up his perception, the world around him slowing to a crawl.
Dust, dirt, and loose chunks of asphalt flew up around him, some of the smaller pieces bouncing off his costumed body as he flew through the air. A deep breath was taken and exhaled as he looked around, eventually turning his head toward the origin of the crimson eruption and tracing the energy back to its source. His head tilted slightly in curiosity until he looked for another half-second, gray eyes widening in simultaneous recognition and alarm. Which was when he looked forward and saw the front of a dilapidated building rushing to pancake him. With a sharp jolt of vibration and adrenaline, he phased through the wall and stayed intangible just long enough to get a clear lane and keep running.
The White Revenant turned down one street after the next, every half-second or so glancing over his shoulder to verify he wasn't being followed. So preoccupied was he that when he finally turned forward, it took him a second to realize there was another figure running next to him. When he did, he took a reflexive swipe at his head, barely dodged in time.
"Whoa, cool down man! It's me!"
Rev blinked twice. "Kid—that—back there—I wasn't trying to—"
"Dude, seriously? You almost got blown up and you're worried about the race?"
He frowned. "It pulled my mind off the seriousness for a second. Kind of important."
Wally snorted a laugh. "I know, trust me. But who the heck were those guys?"
Rev's upper lip twitched. "Not from around here. I recognize them from the Tower's database. They're Gordanian."
KF's eyebrows hiked upward. "Gordanian?"
Luke's jaw tightened. "Alien race. Once upon a time, the bastards imprisoned and experimented on Starfire. They're why she can use starbolts."
"You think they're after her again?"
The younger speedster shrugged. "Could be. If they are, we can't let them get far." Rev kicked his rear leg forward and coasted on the asphalt as he slid to a stop, turning toward the direction they'd just come from. "Think we can stop 'em here?"
KF came to a stop next to him. "Depends on the kind of tech they have, but if we work together? Yeah, maybe. Shouldn't we call in the rest of the team though?"
"They're monitoring us, remember? With any luck, they're already on their way."
"…Then we run for now?"
"No." Rev's eyes narrowed, erupting with silver electricity. "We fight."
Without another word, Lucas took off in the direction of the still-rolling cloud of smoke rising from the impact crater of the Gordanians' weapons. He could hear Kid Flash calling after him, but ignored his shouts and kept running. He heard the Gordanians before he saw them, and when he saw them, for the briefest of moments he reconsidered his direct approach. Only for a moment though. Charging forward, he became suddenly aware of three crimson glows coming from a large, orb-like ship with several cylindrical appendages protruding from its mass. It took only the briefest of moments to realize those appendages were antigravity generators, and thus the White Revenant's primary targets.
Running up a half-collapsed building wall, he leapt off at the last second, wincing when he realized he got the angle completely wrong. The Gordanians' first four shots were completely off, due to how fast he was moving. Their impact points didn't explode quite like the first shot had, something he was grateful for, since the fifth bolt of energy to be thrown his way skated a little too close for comfort. As soon as his feet touched down on the fringe of another building, he took off toward the ground at an angle, curling around two more shots and leaping over a third. He leaned down to snatch up a sharp piece of debris as he hit the ground, launching himself forward and turning back toward the ship as soon as he'd gotten some distance away.
The debris in his hand was launched at the Gordanians at Mach speed, but it shattered against their outer armor with little overall harm done. A small growl came from his throat as he realigned himself, catching a glimpse of red and yellow in his peripheral vision. Rev kept dodging one bolt of energy after the next, looking at the cannons with suspicion when one of them started to glow rather brightly and widening his eyes in alarm when it fired, sending a massive ball of unstable energy barreling toward him. The same explosive force as the first shot slammed into his back when he just managed to dodge their fire.
Stumbling over his first couple of steps, Rev managed to correct his running patterns and run around the ship in an expanding spiral, spotting a red-and-yellow blur flying at the ship from one of the adjacent buildings. Three shots came from the Gordanians, all missing by mere inches as Kid Flash touched down on top of the vessel. Rev smiled and made a small arm-pump as the cannons firing on him suddenly fell silent, the crew apparently preferring to focus on the mischievous speedster currently breaking into their ship. Using their distraction as an opportunity, Luke ran onto an abandoned building whose slanted roof gave him the perfect lane to leap aboard the Gordanian vessel.
One high-speed jump later, Rev could see the beginnings of the havoc left in Kid Flash's wake. He was perched atop the ship for less than a second before a red-and-yellow body flew from a top hatch with a startled shout, landing on one of the stabilizers and curling both arms and legs around it for dear life.
Rev's head snapped toward two massive Gordanians climbing from the hull, then back to the speedster. "Hang on, KF!"
The two reptilian aliens snarled as they started toward him, toting large black staves with the same crimson energy lighting one end. At once, they began to open fire on the Revenant at about twenty feet away, the speedster managing to dodge their fire in place with relative ease, but forcing himself to move when he heard Kid Flash's panicked yells from behind. He, apparently, was also in their line of fire. Gritting his teeth, Luke ran around the two aliens at a massive speed, kicking up dust and debris that blocked their line of fire and made him appear as little more than a white blur. Combine that with the glaringly bright wall of silver lightning, and the Gordanians were basically blinded after only a few seconds.
Neither of them anticipated the sudden and powerful strike that one received to the gut by way of a flying high-speed kick. Rev bounded back off his target with a second kick, back-flipping seamlessly and charging back in with his shoulder down. A dashing leap brought an elbow into the jaw of the other Gordanian, his legs going around its massive head in a lock as his arms became indistinguishable blurs, leveling high-speed strikes on it from every direction. It wasn't long before the alien soldier was keeling over in pain, his comrade reaching over to grab Rev. It wasn't quite in his blind spot, though, so by the time its hand reached his position, he'd already ducked under and sped behind it, a high-speed elbow drop landing on the back of its knee and forcing it to drop with a howl of pain.
It swung its staff back at him, but he ducked the strike and delivered two jabs to the left side of its head. With every attempted counterattack, Rev changed his angle of attack, hitting from every direction and exhausting it little by little. Finally, a strong, hip-driven backhand to the face snapped its head far to the right, his right hand coming in with a powerful haymaker that impacted approximately where its temple would've been. The Gordanian went down like a sack of rotten potatoes. Taking a brief moment to breathe, Rev checked the hatch for any more incoming contacts and snatched up one of the fallen's staves when no one was coming. Speeding over to the edge of the ship, he extended the staff's non-weaponized end to Kid Flash.
"Grab it!" he shouted.
KF slowly shimmied across the cylindrical stabilizer, reaching out and managing to get a decent hold on the pole. As he was standing, though, Rev heard movement from behind and snapped his head to see three more Gordanians climbing from the hatch, one of them in fancier regalia and toting some kind of miniaturized energy sidearm. The captain, he guessed. The alien grinned at them malevolently and raised the weapon in his direction. Unable to move for fear of dropping Kid Flash, White Revenant's mind went on overdrive—and then it occurred to him. He wasn't so unarmed himself.
Grinning right on back, Rev angled the back end of the staff a little differently and punched his left palm into the firing controls near its middle. A brief flare of red came from the back end of the pole before it released a single bolt of blazing crimson energy. The projectile slammed into the startled captain, laying him out on the deck, and for a moment, Rev feared he'd killed it. When the captain started moving a second later, assisted by others of his crew, he realized he had bigger problems to worry about. Finally, KF managed to pull himself back onto the circular top hull of the Gordanian ship, but by then, two more aliens had joined the mix, and they found themselves facing off with five super-strong, very well-armed opponents.
Not the greatest odds in such close quarters, thought Luke, especially not for speedsters.
Clenching his jaw, he coiled up and tensed for a mad dash when the Gordanians' weapons flared up.
Boom!
A massive green explosion suddenly erupted in the middle of the Gordanians' position, sending them flying in all directions. In the middle of the resulting smoke, a sudden gust of wind parted the gloom, admitting six very unhappy-looking Titans, who landed between the frazzled speedsters and the enemy.
As expected, Robin spoke first. "Surrender now and no one has to get hurt."
The Gordanian captain's snarl and raise of his sidearm put an instant end to negotiations. Starfire, however, wasn't waiting for them to surrender. Even as Robin had been speaking, she'd been flying toward the enemy, and as a result decked the captain with a single gravity-assisted punch before he could pull off a single shot.
With a small, almost inaudible sigh, Robin called his traditional, "Titans, go!"
Each of the original five Titans took a separate target as Jinx took one good look at the fight, then shrugged and moved toward Kid Flash. Her attitude and expression were totally different from before. Whereas in Titans Tower and the park, she'd been rather caustic and annoyed with Wally, she was tense and genuinely worried about her boyfriend. Luke sighed and leaned against a nearby wall to take a breather while the veterans handled business. A brief glance brought a highly amused chuckle from his throat. These guys never stood a chance. After some extensive reassurance by Wally that he was okay, Jinx turned to Rev and gave him a once-over, her eyes widening rather comically.
Lucas stared back uncomprehendingly. "What?"
Jinx shot him a look. "You look like hell."
He furrowed his brows in confusion, then looked down in mild shock to see his uniform in tatters, blackened in some spots and practically shredded in others. "O…kay then. Ha, didn't even notice."
Jinx arched an eyebrow. "Clearly."
All three sidelined heroes turned toward the Titans, who were stomping the last resistance from the alien invaders so solidly, Luke almost felt sorry for them. Almost. Remembering how upset Kory had been when the topic of her captivity had come up, any sort of pity or remorse where these monsters were concerned was immediately and viciously quashed. Within seconds, it was over. Cyborg restrained the Gordanians while Robin called for a special cleanup crew from the local division of S.T.A.R. Labs and the Titans all lounged around in the aftermath.
Raven insisted on taking a look at Rev, given the state of his uniform, but was rather astonished to find him unharmed. The chances of the damage being limited to only his suit were slim, though, so Luke chalked it up to Speedforce healing over the course of the fight. Eventually, Rev was leaning against a wall, hands folded over his chest and on the verge of falling asleep when he felt a presence at his right and opened his eyes to see Kid Flash giving him a frown.
"What?"
The redhead looked him over, then locked gazes with him. "Are you always this intense?"
Rev gave him a quizzical look.
"Or is it just when Starfire's involved, 'cause if that's the case, then man, you're barkin' up the wrong—"
"Whoa—no." Lucas waved his hands dismissively. "It's not—it's not like that, man. It's…" He sighed hard, looking over at where Starfire was glaring at the Gordanian captain rather viciously while Robin questioned him. "She was the only one," he said in a near-whisper.
"Only one what?"
Luke took a deep breath. "The only one who never saw me as a threat. Maybe it's because she was unconscious during my betrayal, or maybe it's just her overly kind nature, but…she's only ever shown me understanding and compassion. Even now, she smiles at me every time we pass each other, insists that I come out of my shell. She's the only one who never looks at me with fear in her eyes." His jaw tightened briefly. "And knowing that such a beautiful creature, such a beautiful soul, was damaged and tortured by anyone…" His right hand fisted hard. "It's enough to make even the most circumspect want to snap."
Kid Flash looked toward Star and Robin. "So that's why he's using his growly voice."
"Something tells me he's having a much harder time holding back than I am."
"So…all that intensity, that insistence on fighting instead of running…"
Rev snorted. "For one, running away isn't in my nature. And, well…I don't know. I feel like I'm…suspended. You know, when you're just hanging midair and all you can do is wait." His head shook slowly. "It just feels like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"Luke…you know they're not gonna do that, right?"
"I know they're not. This isn't about them."
"It's about Slade."
Luke turned to him and smirked a little. "You know, you're a lot more perceptive than people give you credit for."
Wally smirked and crossed his arms. "People do tend to forget that I became Kid Flash by duplicating the circumstances that gave the Flash his powers."
Rev's eyebrows shot skyward. "You'll have to tell me about that sometime."
Movement in the corner of his eye drew Lucas' attention to an approaching Robin and Starfire. In the background, several VTOL hovercraft bearing the logo of S.T.A.R. Labs approached the alien ship and began to let off containment personnel.
"What'd you learn?" asked Cyborg.
Robin frowned. "Captain said he was hired by a black market proxy to capture metahuman specimens, specifically from the Titans, but otherwise nothing on his employer or their purpose. The ship's records might hold more, but alien technology is a bit beyond my hacking abilities."
"Not mine," Cyborg intoned. "Let's take the mainframe back to the tower. I'll take a stab at it when I got the chance."
Robin gave him a nod, then turned to the two speedsters with a look that made Rev feel like a scolded kid. "The Gordanians are a little hesitant to give us answers. How about you two?"
"Wwwwhat do you mean?" Lucas asked.
Robin crossed his arms and arched a masked eyebrow. "What made you think that engaging an entire ship full of alien warlords alone was a good idea?"
The question was directed entirely at Rev.
Internally sighing, Luke opened his mouth to answer when Kid Flash interrupted.
"It was a dare."
Robin turned to him abruptly. "Excuse me?"
Kid Flash shifted nervously as Rev gave him a surprised look. "Our race got interrupted, and, you know, we couldn't just let these guys rampage across Jump City, so…I dared him to KO more of them than me."
The Titans' leader turned his gaze to Rev. "And you agreed to this?"
"…yes," he replied absently, still half in shock at Kid Flash lying for him.
Immediately, both speedsters braced for the inevitable lecture and assignment of more rigorous training. They never expected what happened next.
"So who won?"
The speedsters stared at him incredulously, then at each other, then back to him.
Rev chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Well…"
…
All told, it took less than fifteen minutes to get the Gordanians restrained and squared away. Ten minutes later, the Titans had returned to the tower and were busy recovering from the brief engagement. Luke was bent over his book, Raven the same, and the others spread out throughout the tower. As he leafed through the pages one every half-second, Raven kept sending him glances. Eventually, he noticed.
Luke slowly closed the book with a sigh. "It's not you."
Raven arched a dark violet eyebrow.
He looked up at her. "It's not you, or Gar, or Robin, or anyone else on the team. The worry that you keep picking up. The way I've been pushing myself. I'm not worried about you. Even I told myself that, but…" he snorted a laugh, "it took Kid Flash to make me realize the truth. You all said that I was forgiven, and I believed you. The truth is, I've been on edge ever since that day not because I was afraid of getting kicked…but because I know my actions have consequences that are yet to come. Yes, I know there's still some tension between me and the others, yes, I know I have to regain your trust, but that doesn't bother me as much as I'd thought it would.
"No…my real concern is—"
"Slade," she interrupted.
Luke's lips pursed as he nodded. "Deathstroke invested years of time and a ton of money in training and preparing me to infiltrate the Titans. He's not just gonna let this go."
Raven frowned. "I know. We all do. But spending every waking moment worrying about it isn't going to help anyone." She sighed and closed her own book, clasping her hands in her lap. "Until a year ago, I lived in the constant fear of the day when I'd turn sixteen, because when that happened, I knew the world would end, and I would be the ultimate cause of its destruction."
"Yet here we are, one year later."
She gave a small, rare smile. "Because my friends refused to give up on me." Raven looked up and locked gazes with him. "You need to understand that you're no different. Whatever happens, whatever the future holds, if Slade or anyone else comes for you…you won't have to face them alone. That's a promise."
Lucas stared at her with slightly parted lips, feeling them twitch upward as his eyes clouded slightly. He blinked a few times to clear them, then gave Raven a small smile and nod. "Thank you."
Raven just nodded and opened her book, returning to her marked page. Luke gave her one last fond look, then did the same as they sat in companionable silence.
"So," a voice interrupted suddenly.
Luke turned to see Kid Flash smirking at him. "So?"
Wally's green eyes turned mischievous. "We never did finish our race."
The Revenant caught Raven's glance in the corner of his eye as he set his book down again and rose to his feet, grinning. "No…we didn't. Kinda trashed my suit though."
"You don't carry around spares?"
Luke shrugged. "Never really needed to."
KF snorted and rolled his eyes. "Well, I do." He pulled a small golden ring from a pouch in his belt and touched a lightning symbol in its center, sending a duplicate Kid Flash uniform flying through the air and into Luke's grip. "Go ahead."
Lucas stared down at the suit with a mixture of shock and disgust. "Ugh…really?"
"It's friction-proof."
Luke arched an eyebrow at him. "But it's so…yellow."
Wally stuck out his lower lip and crossed his arms. "What's so wrong with yellow?"
He sighed and shrugged. "Nothing," he mumbled, accidentally touching the red lightning symbol in the center of the chestpiece. Immediately, the yellow and red shifted to all black, save for the symbol, causing Rev's jaw to drop and eyes to widen. "Oooohoho, now that's more like it."
In seconds, the suit was on him—rather snugly, to be honest.
"I gotta get me one of these," he said.
KF grinned. "See me after the race, and I'll make sure I upload the schematics to the tower's computer. Now, you ready?"
Rev smirked as they headed for the stairwell. "Yeah."
"Want to get the others?"
The younger speedster shook his head. "Nope. No cameras. No monitors. Not this time. Just you…and me."
Kid Flash shrugged. "Have it your way."
"Have fun," Raven called absently from the living room.
Rev just smiled.
Seconds later, they were out on the sand of Titans Island, back at the same line as almost an hour earlier. The sun was falling behind the water, but just enough light bled through to illuminate their path. Besides that, the skyline of Jump City was lit up like Christmas, giving them quite the view as they took up their positions.
"On your mark," said Kid Flash.
"Get set," replied White Revenant.
"Go!"
Disturbed sand, dust, and water were the only things left in their wake as gold and silver lightning trailed off into the distant sunset.
AN: Another chapter done, yay! This one is kind of standalone, given that it doesn't really tie into anything else, so I feel that it's safe to get this out without anything else in the works. I'm working through a really nasty bout of writer's block right now, so it's difficult to make anything flow for the long periods I'm used to working in. Needless to say, I won't be outputting in any story nearly as quickly as I normally do, at least not until I can find some more inspiration, but I've had this chapter in the works for a while, so I thought I'd throw you guys a bone.
Please review at your leisure, and as always, oya, vode.
- CDrake
