Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.
Teen Titans – What Grows From Deception
Chapter 7 – Evidence and Milkshakes
Vanilla ice cream, milk, chocolate malted powder. Blend. Pour.
Ice cream, milk, chocolate malted powder, zorka berries, banana peppers, Tabasco, wintergreen toothpaste. Blend. Pour.
Humming to herself, Starfire placed a straw into both tall milkshake cups and added a cherry on top. Sharing the sweet treat was Robin's reward for finally relenting on the subject of taking blood work.
It was a little silly of her to be so worried about giving a little blood when she was unafraid to face the most diabolical weapons their enemies brought to bear, but it was one thing getting hit in battle and another entirely to allow someone to deal even the tiniest of wounds to you, even if it was done by a friend for ones own good. It was an attack on a Tamaranian's pride to let such a thing happen and as Princess-in-exile she needed to be an example to her people even while light years away.
She arranged a slice of tomato underneath her own milkshake's cherry and glanced past the counter to the couch. "Friend Raven, would you like me to create the delightful milkshake concoction for you as well?"
Aionor was on the couch, keeping up appearances by skimming the Book of Azar until she could get to the evidence locker. Robin and Starfire had fallen asleep in there the night before, blocking her from sneaking in to search for her prize. She slowly turned her head and squinted at the ingredients surrounding the blender.
"Is that a jar of banana peppers? ...And toothpaste?"
"The peppers are most delightfully tangy and the toothpaste adds a pleasant chalky feel to the mouth." Starfire beamed. She was actually disappointed in the new toothpaste Robin has switched to lately; the grit included to give 'scrubbing action' was too fine for her refined, alien pallet.
"I'll pass."
Starfire just shrugged. It was only once in a blue moon that Raven took her up on little offers like that, so she wasn't expecting her too. "I can make you one without the extra deliciousness, as Robin like them." She offered after a second.
Raven would have passed anyway, if only on principle. But Aionor did love sweets and it was all the better tricking her enemy into making one for her. "Actually, I think I will have one."
"Glorious!" Star floated in her exuberance and started slinging ice cream and malt powder. In no time, a fresh, chocolate malt shake was flown over to Aionor. "Please take the great enjoyment in this, Friend Raven. I wish that I could enjoy it with you, but I intend to enjoy mine as part of the alone time with Robin."
That made Aionor quirk an eyebrow. "Alone time you say?"
Starfire blushed. "Indeed. Robin is most tense from what happened last night and I hoped that a walk around the island together and drinking the milkshake may relax him."
"So you'll be out of the tower."
"But not far." Star promised.
Far enough. Aionor smirked to herself. "Aren't you worried about Beast Boy and Cyborg teasing you?" She asked aloud, fishing for the whereabouts of the other Titans.
"I last saw them leaving at high speed for the garage, but I do not know where they went. Shall I contact them?"
"No, I was just wondering." Aionor said trying to keep her excitement out of her voice. "Sounds like I'll finally have some peace and quiet for a little while."
Starfire smiled. "I hope that it is most pleasant for you. Now, I must go find Robin." She waved before flying over to grab the shake glasses and then she was gone, flying at speed for the elevator.
Aionor counted to ten to make sure she wasn't going to rush back for something she forgot. Then she snapped the Book of Azar closed and stood up. With none of the Titans around, he posture was most un-Raven-like unless one considered the green cloaked emoticlone, dubbed Brave by Cyborg. She tossed the cloak over her shoulder with a feral grin.
It was time to go to work.
The heavy bag just wasn't cutting it, so Robin was working his way through every bo staff kata he knew, swinging, thrusting, snapping the tip in every possible direction. He was full of nervous energy; a thunderstorm for the soul, just looking for a place to ground its lightning.
His own investigation into the creatures and the old foundry (that's what the lease said about the place, though he'd never seen a foundry like that) had come up empty. Raven had come up empty handed too. So they were back to square one with a murderous horde of monsters on the loose in his city.
Their city. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't just him, that the Titans weren't sidekicks to him like he had been to Batman. They were equals; he was just the tactician, which made him effective leader. Even after all those years, it was still hard for him to let go of his desire for control, even after knowing where that led Batman all too often, even after seeing the dark shadow of that obsession in Slade.
But he was getting better and a big reason for that had just gotten off the elevator outside the training room. The tromp of her boots and the little chell sound when she started to fly gave her away tot he World's Greatest Junior Detective.
He planted the staff in a rest position and turned to the door just as she appeared in the doorway. "Hi Star."
She was used to him knowing she was coming and answered with a bright smile. "Greetings, Robin. I have prepared the milkshakes for us. I was hoping that we may imbibe them together."
There was more than one way to get rid of the terrible case of nerves. Robin smiled at her. "Thanks, Star. That sound great. I-" The rest of the sentence had to do with toweling off so he wasn't walking around in a cloud of funk for the rest of the day, but before those words could leave his mouth, there was a straw being shoved in it.
"Wonderful!" Star exclaimed. "Oh, I do hope you find this to be pleasing, I got the instructions from the Earth internet."
Robin took a sip.
Over the years, he'd built up not so much a taste for Tamaranian cooking as a tolerance to it and an array of techniques to avoid hurting Starfire's feelings with his body's natural reactions to it. Usually, they were very effective. This time, however, a pocket of Tabasco had gone unblended and just so happened to the first thing up the straw. From there, it seemed to go directly to his sinuses.
Before he could catch himself, he started coughing. It took him a moment to get himself together and looked up to see Starfire pursing her lips in an odd expression. "Star..." He started, an excuse for his coughing already forming in his head.
"I believe I accidentally switched out cups." Starfire said tightly and quickly exchange her for his, taking a long pull to wash the taste of the shake intended for her boyfriend out of her mouth with the spicy tang of peppers and minty freshness of toothpaste. She knew that humans were only able to taste a few tastes and that glorim and bant weren't among them, but still, how did Earthlings stand eating things so frightfully bland when they had plentiful mustard and capers to add much needed bitterness?
The door to the evidence room whooshed open to admit Aionor. The door had been password protected, but once again, the changeling's password was enough. It was becoming more and more fortuitous that she'd duped the green bean.
She wondered if he'd make a nice pet once all was said and done and she was in charge. Maybe a green organ grinder's monkey to clap cymbals and dance for her when she was bored. Or maybe a parrot who was only allowed to sing her praises. The sky was the limit, really. And it was a far better fate than she had in store for the half demon.
Striding in, she took stock of the room. Like his mentor, Robin liked to take trophies; they were mounted on pedestals alone two walls in the room; one of Slade's masks, Trident's... trident, Control Freak's first remote. Her gaze lingered over that last one. How could such a soft dork get his cheeto dust covered hands on something so powerful? Maybe she's take that too if she had time. But there was something mote important here.
The file cabinets and clerk's desk with its green shaded lamp were at the very end. But where...
Once she started looking with magical senses, it was easy to find. The chest was little more than a metal box, featureless in the dim light, but Raven's senses could pick out the protective runes drawn all over its surface. It was bolted to the floor in a surreptitious manner, hidden in plain sight under a stack of papers. Robin must have intended to pass it off as some sort of modern art table.
She brushed the papers to the floor, her target now fully in sight. The lid had been welded shut, but that wasn't much of an obstacle for her, or rather Raven.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She droned, overshadowing the lid with dark energy and tearing the weld off at the seams. Inside, secured to the bottom of the chest by chains as a last line of defense as the book.
The book. It looked utterly mundane, bound in pale leather with silver accents in the corners and a silver circle in the center. The journal of Rorek of Nol. The prison of the dread dragon Malchior.
Another application of Raven's telekinesis snapped the chains and drew the book into her hands.
Wait a moment. A voice came from the book, still weak after all this time from being resealed. You aren't Raven.
"Very perceptive." She said and unceremoniously stowed the dragon and his book in her cloak. It was a huge book, but Raven had, over the years, tired of lugging huge tomes around and especially of shielding them from the elements or sudden attacks and installed an enchanted pocket to stow her reading material in.
Now she just had to get back to the mirror, tell him to switch her and Raven, and be gone without a trail for the Titans to follow. That would be easy enough with the other Titans otherwise indisposed. After the complications of last night, it looked like it was clear sailing from—
"Yo, Rae, we're back, where you at?" Cyborg's voice bellowed from the vicinity of her hip. Swiping the communicator form it's clip, she opened it to reveal Cyborg's grinning face.
She should have expected that.
"My room." She droned.
"Well get your butt up here. Me and B picked up Chinese for dinner. Got your favorite too: Shrimp Chow Fun. And after that, we're havin' a movie night. Got your favorite for that too: kettle corn."
Aionor raised any eyebrow. Was he testing her? There was an odd tenor to his voice that might indicate that and it just seemed too weird that the emotionless half demon would go for sweetened popcorn. Of course, to be honest with herself, she just didn't want to have even that much in common with Raven. Luckily, an appropriate response in either case was the same while in character as Raven.
"Hurray." She deadpanned.
"That's the spirit, Rae. I think you'll be singin' a different tune later though." Cyborg laughed before cutting the transmission.
Aionor sighed. She would have to wait a bit longer and sneak out when everyone was asleep. It was a good thing she had plenty of time.
Deep in the remote cavern, Raven—the real Raven—concentrated. This strange body's powers were a lot like Starfire's in that they were emotion based. They were also a lot like her own in that they were definitely an innate magical gift unlike Starfire's biologically derived abilities.
Instead of Righteous Fury, this other girl's static bursts were fueled by regular, unfiltered Rage. And with Trigon's banishment removing her fear of him controlling her and the current feeling of utter violation at having her body stolen, Raven had rage to spare.
A blast of static coursed through the clamps pinning her arms and down into the locking mechanism. It hadn't been designed to take into account the power this body could generate when fueled by a truly angry half demon daughter of the embodiment of all that was evil.
The latch melted and she was free.
A/N – Are Aionor's powers starting to look a bit familiar now? If not, don't worry, all will be explained in due time.
Next Chapter, Aionor has an awkward experience and Raven finds out exactly where she is. See you next time!