Disclaimer: Don't own TT, DC comics, all the usual stuff

A bit of a shorter chapter but it's essential in taking care of a couple necessary plot developments outside of our dear Raven's life and her relationships with Nightwinga and Jinx.

"Speech"

Thoughts

Slade paced back and forth, slowly feeling irritation creep up upon him. He was not a man used to waiting for anyone, or working as partners with anyone for that matter, and to add insult to injury, that demon was late! Nobody was ever late when dealing with Slade. Ever.

"Upset about something?" The voice caught him by surprise and he turned around sharply, seeing nothing in the darkness of his hideout. But he recognized that voice.

"Wrath," he replied. "You're late."

It also annoyed him to no end that the demon was able to sneak up on him completely undetected. It was even more annoying that he could remain unseen even when Slade was looking for him; only Nightwing and Raven had managed that feat, but now he had another person to add to his list to be cautious around. Correction. Another demon.

The red eyes opened and looked at him, studying him carefully for a moment. Wrath was somewhat empathic as well, but not to the degree to which his sister was. "Nervous?"

"Perhaps," Slade avoided answering definitively. But of course he was nervous. He was in the presence of a powerful demon who had managed to sneak up on him completely undetected and caught the villain unprepared, unaware. It wasn't a feeling that he relished getting used to. "I understand that you let Raven escape."

"Pride..." Wrath murmured. "I will leave her to her own devices for now. You got what you wanted - that man, Nightwing, his reputation is ruined. Of all the Titans, only the green one remains, and as far as I could tell, he did not pose much of a threat."

"And the old HIVE member, Jinx," Slade reminded him.

Wrath shrugged. "It does not matter if there is one ant or two. They do not pose a threat. This city is yours. You can do whatever you want with it. My brothers and I will keep the Justice League... occupied for now. My father's armies are already drawing their attention away from here. The only conditions that we have are that you allow us to establish a portal to Trigon's realm of Hell so that the lesser demons may pass through, and that you leave my sister alone."

Slade paused. Had he sensed that Wrath's voice had a slight edge to it at that last part? "Feeling a bit protective of Raven? I suppose I understand. She is your younger sister after all."

Wrath's eyes narrowed. "Watch your tongue, mortal. I'm sure you are aware of her power as well. Harnessed properly, it is something that could be an enormous... asset to my father's plans." Actually, that was a lie, but it wasn't like he was going to let a mortal know that he actually cared about her. His father, his brothers, fine, but he didn't relish the idea of being "humanized" by pitiful mortals. And he didn't relish the idea of the mastermind Slade having a weapon to use against him. Hostages were never a good thing.

"Whatever the case," Slade replied, "even if I have done nothing to her, she is still in danger."

"The city hunts her?"

"Well, not exactly," Slade flipped on a computer screen behind him, showing off the image of a certain dark Titan sitting in a jail cell and another image of a girl being pushed into a hospital on an operating table, where paramedics were already beginning their surgical procedures on her.

If Wrath was disturbed, he gave no visible outward sign of it. Slade shrugged and took the silence as an indication that he was to continue.

"It seems that our friend has lost his mind, just as I planned. But even I never thought that he would go so far as to shoot her. I must admit, I was very surprised when I saw that. The only thing that puzzles me is that she did nothing to defend herself when it would have been easy to simply deflect the bullet. Did you do something to her when you were... chatting?"

Wrath grumbled a little under his breath. "No. Will she live?"

"How am I supposed to know? Just because I have cameras installed around the city does not mean I know every little detail of these things. But as far as I could see, the bullet pierced her chest. I don't know much about demon anatomy, but it seems that your kind is not invulnerable to that type of damage."

The demon grunted in response. "I will go to see her myself after the humans are done with whatever it is that they do. You... do whatever you want. You will want to see Nightwing, will you not?"

Slade's eyes narrowed in amusement. "Actually, I'm not done playing with him yet. You see..." He gestured to his left and a light turned on, revealing three tanks filled with some sort of liquid. Inside them floated the bodies of Cyborg, Starfire, and Terra, who all seemed to be in some sort of hibernation. "I have one more game left. Our dear Nightwing has one more chance to win."

Wrath stepped into the light to get a better look, and Slade was pleased to see that the demon was genuinely surprised.

"You didn't kill them?"

"Dead, they are useless to me," the villain replied. "The acid was no more than a hoax. Some green food coloring and dissolved carbon dioxide and anything will look like acid."

"Well I'm certain that Nightwing will not be able to beat you at your own game. He has not even won one so far. What will you do with the Titans after you are done with them?"

The masked man was silent for a moment. "Honestly, I hadn't thought that far," he chuckled. "Never thought I'd live to see the day where they were all caught in my trap so completely. I really must thank you for your help in this endeavor."

Wrath grunted a you're welcome before turning back to the computer screen to see his sister disappear into the hospital. His gaze shifted back onto the image of the once hero slumped over in his jail cell, looking like a man who had had too much to drink or maybe too many drugs. And suddenly Wrath's rage boiled and he was tempted to kill Nightwing right that instant.

The killing intent was not missed by Slade, who was rather unnerved by the sudden outburst of anger from the demon - even if he gave no outward sign that his mood had changed. "If you wish to kill him, you might as well make it look like a suicide," Slade murmured facetiously. He knew that the demon wouldn't actually kill Nightwing. Breaking a man's spirit was a much worse punishment than merely killing him. Although he had to wonder why Nightwing had made the demon so angry. Perhaps a personal grudge.

Wrath turned and looked at the villain with a blank stare. "Not today. Perhaps another time. Although I suppose after you're through with him, he will want to nail his own coffin shut." He turned to leave.

"Give your sister my regards when she wakes up," Slade called out. "If she does."

Wrath did not respond, but secretly he was quite worried that Raven actually might not make it.

Batman slammed his fist down on the wooden table, breaking it cleanly in two before turning back to the image of the green Titan on his computer screen. Beast Boy seemed rather unnerved by the display of rage from the superhero, but he continued speaking, knowing that Batman would not appreciate being not completely informed of the whole situation.

"So... yeah. Richard kinda just shot her, and she's in critical condition right now, at least that's what the doctors say. I got a good look at her in the ambulance."

"And?" Batman growled.

Beast Boy shook his head. "She doesn't look too great. Bullet went straight through her sternum and lodged in an artery, so I was told."

Batman grabbed the remains of the table and hurled them against one wall. How many times had he warned Richard to control himself? How many times had he tried to get it into the young boy's head that he could not lose his head while fighting or else he'd do something stupid that he'd later regret? Now look where it had landed him.

"Um... Batman sir?"

"What?" The dark knight grumbled back after a moment, suppressing his own anger. He'd take out his frustration on his old apprentice later.

"Is... everything okay?"

"You should be more worried about your city than about me," Batman replied, still fuming.

"Right, well I'm not exactly the guy who's most suited to working alone. And the only other Titan left in the city is Jinx, and she's kinda out of it right now..." Beast Boy turned the communicator screen to reveal a pink haired girl curled up on a bench outside the emergency room, staring off into empty space, with tears leaking out of her eyes. Every so often, a flash of pink energy would fly through the air and break something, but nobody had the heart to bother the traumatized girl.

"I'm coming to Jump," Batman replied.

"But what about Gotham-"

"It'll only be for a day. Gotham can live without me for that long."

"Right... I guess we'll be expecting you, sir?"

Batman grunted.

"Oh, and one last thing," Beast Boy spoke suddenly but then seemed to retreat, uncertain whether he should say it or not. Batman waited patiently for a moment - well, a moment was patient for him at least - but then decided that waiting really wasn't his thing.

"Out with it."

"Um... I don't mean to tell you what to do, but you shouldn't hate Richard for doing this..."

Batman's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure I heard that correctly."

Beast Boy held out his arms in front of him in a pacifying gesture. "Wait, I can explain! Raven's always been unstable and I guess she killed a few policemen or something and Richard was already really mad at her so he kinda was justified-"

"You don't like her, do you?" Batman got straight to the point.

"N-no, it's not that, I-I just-" He couldn't keep up his facade under Batman's glare. "Alright. Yeah, I don't like her. I mean, I used to think she was okay, as a friend and all that, but she just got so angry and withdrawn and I couldn't help but feel like she was dangerous, ya know? Almost evil, like those villains we fought. And then she attacked us, and I mean fine, we can forgive that, but then it happened over and over and it just wasn't okay..."

His voice trailed off, but Batman's intense gaze demanded more. "Okay, fine, I admit it. She did get provoked every time it happened and we didn't really help by trying to restrain her, but I didn't think that she'd attack her friends so easily. We tried to be nice, but-" He paused and thought about it more carefully. "I guess that's not it either. After the whole Malchior thing and with Trigon and stuff, we were really nice to her and she seemed happy, but then she went back to her whole ice queen routine. I guess the real problem is, at least for me, I can't understand her. I mean, I tried, but she's just... too different. I just don't get why she is the way she is, so I suppose I am kinda biased when I say it's not Richard's fault. But still..." Beast Boy shrugged. "I still feel that way."

He looked away from Batman's glare and frown; the intensity of those two things was something that could wordlessly pry information from almost anyone, and it was not something most people could look at for more than a moment without feeling extreme discomfort.

"Well, at least you're an honest one," Batman said gruffly. "Richard would never have admitted that."

"Err... thank you?"

"Don't hold your breath," Batman continued on. "I'll be there before you know it." He turned off the screen and began gathering a few things from around his lair.

"Alfred?" He called out, knowing that his butler was nearby.

"Yes Master Wayne?" The old man appeared out of nowhere and was at his side in a moment.

"You heard everything?"

"I did. I can make all the necessary arrangements for an... important meeting... that Bruce Wayne has made with a possible client. A business trip."

Bruce Wayne removed his Batman mask and gave his butler a small smile. Alfred was always on top of things. "Alright. I will be back shortly, and possibly with one or more... guests."

"I shall make the necessary arrangements for that as well. Anything else you might need, Master Wayne?"

"No, that will be all. Thank you Alfred."

"My pleasure, Master Wayne. And if I may be so bold as to make an observation?"

"And that would be?"

"It seems that Miss Raven has acquired a new... friend." He said the word friend without just a little implication behind it.

Bruce smirked a little. "I did not miss that. But miss cotton candy hair might just be disappointed. Raven might not even pull through this one."

"She is half demon, yes?"

Alfred got a nod in response as Bruce Wayne began throwing a few things in the Batmobile from around his lair.

"She seems strong, Master Wayne."

"I don't doubt that."

"Then what reason is there to believe that she will not live?"

Bruce's eyes were dark and brooding, but the intensity of his gaze was not enough to scare his butler away. Alfred was one of the few people who could meet his stare straight on, unflinchingly.

"Perhaps I will introduce her to you eventually, and then you will now."

Alfred bowed respectfully and left the Batcave. A moment later, the whirring of a starting engine could be heard, followed by the sound of a vehicle crashing through a waterfall.

The Watchtower, 600km above Earth's surface

"Bruce? What do you think about this whole thing?"

The founding members of the Justice League, minus Batman of course, were gathered around their meeting table, staring at the screen with Batman's face on it.

"I'm going to see for myself. After I have a chat with my old student," came the grumbled reply. Everyone could see that Batman was very pissed off - even though he always seemed irritable in his Batman persona, he practically radiated anger even through the computer screen.

"A word of advice. Just because Nightwing screwed up doesn't mean he can't redeem himself," Superman suggested. "Not saying we're going to let him off so easily, however. But don't go overboard, Bruce."

Batman did not respond but he did nod slightly in acknowledgement of the statement.

"We're spread a bit thin right now, but I'm certain we could send a couple people to help Jump," Green Lantern spoke next. "Although, Wally should stay in central and Keystone, and Clark, you and Bruce should stay in Metropolis and Gotham since everyone seems to rely on you three a great deal to maintain the peace-" He paused as Batman turned his glare onto him. Even if he was the Green Lantern, Batman's willpower was an impressive thing and not something to be underestimated. "Fine. I'll meet you in Jump. Anyone else want to come?"

Everyone looked at Wonder Woman. They knew that she had... something... going on with the dark knight, although neither of them would ever admit to it.

"I - uh..."

"Stay out of this, Diana," Batman grumbled. "Hal and I will be more than enough to figure out just exactly what's going on."

"I do have one question for you though, Bruce," Green Lantern looked at him very seriously. "I heard something about the daughter of Trigon being in Jump and running around without anyone watching her?"

"What about it?" The other founding members looked up in surprise, all except for the Martian Manhunter, who sat back, not visibly disturbed. As a telepath, he could sense the discomfort radiating off of Batman, even if the dark knight gave no outward sign of it.

"Why didn't you tell us about this? You know she's dangerous. Trigon already beat us all once, and he's more than capable of wiping us all out, even Superman! We have to make sure she won't do anything to help him or-"

"Will you just butt out and wait until you meet her for yourself?" Batman growled irritably. "That is if she's even going to live at all."

"You... are concerned for her," the Martian spoke up and everyone looked at him in surprised.

Batman sighed. "J'onn. I hate you."

The alien was not intimidated, not that Batman was trying to be intimidating anyway. "It seems that you and this Raven are relatively good friends."

"Then what's the harm in it all? You guys really gotta lighten up. Give the poor girl a chance," Flash cut in, trying desperately to relieve the tension in the room. "There's no need to jump into things recklessly."

"Still, Wally, she's dangerous... we can't just -"

"Your sense of justice is strong, Hal, but sometimes you take it too far and-"

"Justice is what keeps us together and separates us from those super powered villains that we end up fighting all the time!"

The room broke out into a heated argument and Batman wisely decided to turn off the screen connecting him to the Watchtower. He knew that Raven had always been a controversial issue among the Justice League and that many members, especially Zatanna, were fearful of just what she could do, but he had sensed something different once he had actually gotten to know the girl. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he actually felt protective of her, even more so than he had been of Richard Grayson or Rachel Dawes, probably because they were quite similar in personality. And by mutual understanding, he had also understood that she was, in fact, a danger to humanity, but not by pure virtue of her demonic heritage alone.

No, she would be dangerous because slowly, her hope in humanity as a whole was being eroded by people who fought for supposed "justice," like Hal Jordan, or even Clark Kent, or even Barry Allen sometimes, who all fought for pure naive justice, unable to sense the necessary darker side of the world as well. Batman had clashed with them many times on these points, and though they still remained good friends, the fact remained that they could not understand each other. And so he was afraid of what the Justice League would do to Raven, but even he had to admit, Trigon was not a threat that he wanted to deal with. Although Raven would never willingly ally herself with him either. She hates him too much. I just fear what she will do of her own accord. If she even lives.

Really, it came down to reading the girl's emotions, which could be very difficult even for someone like Batman. Perhaps he should've asked J'onn to come rather than GL.

The whole thing seemed very delicate to him. With a bunch of heroes seeing the world only in black and white, it was difficult to understand a person stuck in the gradient of grey between justice and evil. Batman had to admit that he himself sometimes found it difficult to deal with that spectrum of grey as well, preferring to think in terms of pure "heroism" and "villainry" because it was easier. But he also understood that someone like Raven who was both human and demon, innately "evil" and "good" could never be able to deal in pure black and white. That was why she was so difficult for others to understand. And why it landed her in trouble, like it had this time.

But it was no good musing on these thoughts. There really was only one concern at the forefront of his mind, and one concern only. He hoped, with all his heart, that she would live.

A/N: Ended on a rather philosophical note, but I think that Batman would be the type to think theologically - with his superior intellect and mental capacity, he certainly has the ability to think like this for long periods of time.

Of course, that being said, he's not some pure logic theory freak... he also cares deeply for Raven because she's similar to him, and so he understands how much she suffers. It's not something that someone who doesn't understand her situation can really get so easily, which is why I figured that most of the Titans would not be able to connect with Raven because they see the world in mostly black and white rather than in shades of grey. (Although Robin/Nightwing is an exception.)

Anyway, I'm not here to give a lecture of philosophy or on character traits, but if you do want an explanation of why I do certain things, I would be happy to reply to a review or a PM. Remember, praise is always nice, and critique helps make a better writer, so don't hesitate to voice your thoughts.

(I also forgot to mention... The Justice League founding members in this story will include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and Flash - no Aquaman because I don't know much about him and he seems ...unimportant... sorry Aquaman fans...)