Chapter 7

Nightwing

Dick is no stranger to sleepless nights so when the sun rises again, the descision to forgo sleep and get ready for his day job is easily made. It's not crucial for him to have the office open for as long as he does but the routine of it is hard wired in him.

Besides, Alfred says the daily dose of civilian life is good for him. Keeps him from losing sight of who he is. Dick isn't too sure about it, but if it keeps Al from worrying about him then he'll keep doing it. Besides, Dick actually enjoys people, talking with them, being around them.

It's one way he's different from his mentor and he considers it a very defining feature. Of course, lately he hasn't given himself leave to do anything but work, work, work--even when he's at "work."

Coffee.

Leaving his apartment he stumbles into the elevator and applies his debatable obsessive focusing abilities on getting some caffeine.

At the nearest coffee shop he contemplates the menu before asking for a large cup of black coffee. The woman at the register gives him a look but he ignores it.

As he takes a large drink he contemplates switching to something healthier. Enough of his Bat family is already lowkey addicted to the stuff and he isn't keen to add himself to those ranks.

His phone buzzes. Not his civilian phone, his work phone. He doesn't recognize the number but answers anyway.

"How did you get this number?"

"Nightwing, it's Cyborg. Red Wing gave me your number. I'm arriving in Jump city within the hour. I've got a runner."

He doesn't know Cyborg personally and only met him once in an awkward encounter at the Justice League headquarters. Apparently he's being scouted.

Bruce, in his neverending wisdom, though it would be best to not inform Dick at all that Cyborg was being looked at as a potential League member over Dick himself.

"Need backup?"

"No, this one's personal. I am hijacking the cities news outlets though."

From what Dick understands, they're all personal for Cyborg. "Thanks for the heads up."

It's uneventful at his office. The time between customers spans at time over two hours, not that he minds.

He uses the time to do some more digging on the Black Bird of Terror. Everyone has a motive and it'll help him find and capture her. Zatanna has already gotten back to him a deal to use for witches and a set cuffs to render her powerless in transport to prison.

Raven

Raven isn't at all surprised when someone catches up to her as she walks down the sidewalk. This alien has proven extremely difficult to get rid of.

"This planet is most intriguing," Starfire says. "Do all the beings here have gifts of power?"

Raven doesn't reply, still fuming from last night's encounter with the alien. Basically, Starfire kicked her ass. Raven hasn't taken a beating like that since her first year in hell.

When the darkness over came her she actually thought she might have died, but then she woke up, and Starfire was there again--coming back for seconds, Raven presumed.

But the orange woman was sporting a different demeanor than before. She was almost kind. And the bitch cauterized her wounds, insisting it would speed up her healing process.

Were one of Raven's shoulders not dislocated and her other arm not broken, she would have healed herself with magic once she healed up enough with her demon blood.

Raven finally breaks her silence and asks, "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I tried," Starfire replies with such blatant honesty that Raven can't help but respect her. "You heal very quickly."

"Maybe I should kill you then," Raven muses. There is really nothing to stop this girl from trying again. "Especially if you're going to keep following me around."

"For attacking me without warning I was owed one attempt at your life. It's been attempted but shall not be again." She gives Raven a warning glare. "Unless you do something like that again."

"Just leave," Raven tells her and gestures to the sky. "Find a different planet to live on, this one isn't going to be here for much longer."

"If this is true then why do you not leave as well. Why do they all not leave." Starfire watches people as they pass. More than a few blush at her attention, other openly gawk.

Raven laughs. "Nothing is ever that easy. These humans aren't welcome anywhere past their moon. This planet is all they have, it needs to be saved."

"I'll help you save it."

Raven jerks, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Who said I was saving it?"

Starfire smiles but doesn't respond.

"You are reallly testing me," Raven growls.

A man passes them and whistles at Starfire. Who gives him such a demeaning look Raven can feel his confidence plummet.

Raven needs to keep a low profile but since the alien is not showing signs of leaving, she growls and says, "Let's find you some clothes. Normal clothes."

Raven pulls her into the first clothing store she finds; a Forever Twenty One.

Starfire pauses at the entrance and Raven rolls her eyes at the girl's expression. Strfire immediately makes goes to a rack of pink dresses.

"Tell me Raven," Starfire says, "What's going to happen to this planet."

Raven flinches at the use of her own name. No one ever really calls her by name. Her father calls her Daughter, her brothers call her Sister. Cor anyone else to call her woth such familiarity is to invite pain.

"Death for the lucky ones." she replies.

Raven can remember every world she watched her father conquer, every world she helped him conquer. To be in the presence of such power, such raw evil . . .

Starfire nods. "How can I help?"

Raven considers her. "Why do you want to?"

"I am not permitted to return home. Until I am, this is my home and I will not allow it to be destroyed." Starfire pulls out a dress of a relatively simple design; a flare skirt with a halter top. Glitter is coating every inch of it.

Raven points her in the direction of the dressing rooms and considers leaving as soon as she turns the corner but decides to stay. Five times she's ditched her and five times she's returned.

Besides, she will make a good patsy if Nightwing and his idiot partner catch up to her.

Starfire comes bounding out and Raven mentally face palms. She's stunning, and Raven has a feeling she'll make even a paper bag look good. Raven pulls a knitted crop sweater off the rack and hands it to her. It will at least cover her cleavage, for all the good that will do.

Reluctantly intrigued, Raven then asks, "Why can't you go home?"

"I wanted to stop the fighting but Tamaran is a place of might. I was their Queen and they . . ." Starfire pulls on the sweater and glares at nothing. "My own sister wants me dead. They called me weak and tried to execute me."

A Queen? Yes, Raven can see that now. It's in the way she carries herself, in the set of her jaw, and the steel in hers eyes.

Raven blinks and can see the woman who would not be broken by her brother. The woman who sent him running back home to face her father.

"You're not weak."

Starfire lifts her chin and in the waves of anger washing over Raven, there comes a swell of pride aswell.

She has a right to be angry.

Going against the norm is not easy. Raven herself has had brief stints of humanity living in hell. They never lasted long.

In the spirit of appearing normal while dressed as civilians, Raven pays for the clothes with cash rather than mind tricking the woman into thinking Raven had already paid.

Once they've stepped back out onto the street, Raven orients herself and puts them back on track to their destination.

"Now let's get to work. To save this planet, we need one thing: a man named Slade Wilson. Problem is, I have no idea where in this city he is. We need to find him--fast. The days are numbered."

Starfire nods. "How do we find him?"

"No idea," Raven replies, coming to a stop at their destination. "That's what places like this are for."

She points to the sign hanging beside the door of the small building and Starfire reads, "Grayson Investigations."