Starfire stood in front of the large picture window in the common area, watching the sun rise. She had been in too much pain to sleep and the medications available to her on Earth tended to be ineffective. She was wrapped in a dressing that nearly covered her entire torso. When she had been slammed into the wall, a steel support beam had been torn loose and it cut her back badly. It had taken enough stitches to close the wound that she had lost count. Her face was as quiet and still as it ever got.
Robin had finally become so fuzzy headed with fatigue that he had given up and headed for bed. He passed through the common area on the way and stopped, watching her silently for a moment. "This Mike is a fearsome warrior," she said. He walked silently to her and stood, also regarding the sunrise.
Robin nodded somberly, watching her carefully. "Yes, he is."
Suddenly, much to Robin's surprise, her eyes lit with lambent green fire and her voice coarsened. He felt actual, literal heat radiating from her as energy coalesced around her hands. "I too am a fearsome warrior and he will learn that when next we meet." She turned and looked at him with a cold smile. Robin nearly took an involuntary step back. "You will learn his secrets and you will make a plan and he will be defeated." She visible mastered herself and gave a quick glance at Robin and then back to the view. "As sure as morning follows night."
Robin watched her curiously. They had lost fights before. Enemies had pushed and tasked them in many ways over the years. Star had seldom reacted like this. "What's going on?" he asked.
"I am angry," she said.
"Clearly," he said. "Why are you so angry? We've lost fights before."
She still didn't look at him. "Those we fight are so often ridiculous people; foolish little men who want only to feel strong because they are not. They make childish speeches and pose for the cameras. Not this Mike. He was…" she trailed off, seeking the words.
"Serious?" Robin suggested.
She nodded. "He was serious. He fought with intelligence." Her lip curled, "We have lost before but never to someone with such… casual contempt. He did not fear or respect us and was certain he could defeat us."
"He was kind of right," Robin said.
"I believe the phrase is 'that was just round one'. There is much battle yet to be done."
Raven was awakened, much to her dismay, when the morning sun hit her full in the face. Her heavy drapes had been improperly arranged, leaving a gap. She was instantly certain that it was, in some way, Gar's fault. She made a sound that sounded something like "gack!" and rolled away from the offending illumination. Unfortunately, that placed her face in unexpected and direct contact with Gar's armpit. He was awakened by a strange sensation in a surprising location and a sudden howl of outrage. He blearily saw Rae swiping at her face as she rolled out of bed and raced to her bathroom, where soap and water began being applied with vigor. "What happened?" he asked muzzily.
"You afflicted me with your gross stinkiness first thing in the morning!" she replied indignantly. "My God! It isn't coming off!" she said as she scrubbed at her nose, which had unfortunately led the charge. Beast Boy took a moment to figure out what had happened and started laughing when he did. "Stop it," she said crossly.
"Hey," he said, "You're the one that stuck your face in there."
"How can you sweat so much in your sleep?"
"Stop exaggerating," he replied, a little hurt.
Cyborg sat in front of the monitor watching the fight again. He was sure he had seen all that there was to see but the gain on his auditory system seemed to be damaged. It kept focusing oddly, picking up small sounds from seemingly random sources so he sat and fiddled with it with a short screwdriver, watching the footage mechanically to pass the time. He suddenly 'heard' a nearly painful electronic squeal and it refocused again. Distantly but with perfect clarity, he heard Beast Boy saying "You're the one who stuck your face in there." When he heard Raven's reply, he calmly, deliberately, and immediately rammed the screwdriver deep into the side of his own head, obliterating the auditory pick up.
"Don't need to hear that," he muttered to himself.
Starfire had just finished her grimly optimistic declaration when Cyborg passed through the common room on his way upstairs. "Morning, guys," he said. "I'm off to charge and catch a snooze." They both nodded bemusedly and he walked past them, grandly ignoring the looks they were giving him.
Starfire spoke hesitantly after he had left the room, "Why did Cyborg have a screwdriver in his head?" Robin gave a half shrug and opted to not consider the question too closely.
Rae came out of her bathroom still rubbing her nose as if she were about to sneeze and her face scrunched up in a way he couldn't help finding adorable. "I'm showering," she said, opening a drawer and getting out some clothes. He relaxed again and stared at the ceiling. Part of him had all but screamed to ask if he could join her but he refrained. Bad timing, considering how beat up and sore they both were. He was just about to doze back off when she emerged. She opened another dresser drawer and tossed something onto the bed. "Your turn," she said, pointing towards the bathroom.
He realized that it was clothing… his clothing. Fresh and clean and straight from her drawers. "I have clean stuff here?" He didn't remember bringing it.
She shrugged. "You left them in the gym," she said. "I tossed them in with my laundry and forgot to return them."
He felt that he should say something about it. The casual intimacy of the gesture touched him. After being utterly unable to come up with anything that didn't sound dumb, he just thanked her and went to shower. Rae lay back down and, in spite of her discomfort and the spanking new looming threat, felt content. No, not content… or not just that. She was calm but excited. The knowledge that he would be coming out of her bathroom and they would lay together and plan their day both soothed and aroused her. She considered just going in and getting in the shower with him. Emotion roiled through her at the thought and she had to tamp down hard to control it. She wasn't ready for that. Gar finished quickly and came back to bed. They automatically cuddled close, neither saying a word for a moment. Finally, he said, "Want to try to go back to sleep?"
"You can," she said. "I'm slept out."
"Me too, I guess," he replied with a sigh. They were lying on their sides, her back to him. His right arm was stretched out across the bed and her head rested on it. "How's your jaw?" he asked. "Need to get an x-ray or something?"
She shook her head, "I'll be fine. Just bruised. How about yours?"
"About the same," he said.
"We need to call Ben and get you in to see him," she said. Ben Pepin was, for all intents and purposes, the Titan's dentist and got a fair amount of work from them. He quirked a small smile at her use of "we" that she couldn't see.
"I hate the dentist."
"Stop it. Ben's nice."
"I didn't say I hate him," he replied in the tone he used when he thought he was being reasonable. "I said I hate dentists. Two different things." She didn't answer except to shake her head a little. After a moment he grunted in annoyed amusement. "I was going to kiss you but then I realized how dumb that was."
She laughed a little. "It would hurt too much right now."
"Almost worth it anyway," he said.
"Almost," she agreed. With immense reluctance, she sat up. "Go get ready and call Ben's office. We can get some food after." He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Just as he was about to stand, she stayed him with a hand on his arm. "Gar," she said.
"Yeah?"
"We just slept together," she said softly.
"Yeah." He replied.
The two of them were in the kitchen soon after for her tea and his coffee, a recent addiction that Gar had picked up, when both received a comm message from Robin. Rae was puttering with her intricate drink preparations, so he checked it. "It's to both of us," he said. "Uh... apparently we're the only ones who went to bed last night. They're all sacked out." He began typing quickly. "Now telling Robin we'll be careful... and that we'll come straight back."
"We do need to be careful," she said. "It's not likely but if we do see him..."
"I'm thinking we don't engage and call for the cavalry," he interrupted. She nodded agreement. They both had their morning cups and sat in companionable silence for a few minutes. "Rae, I've been thinking. He's going to go after you first every time we fight him. He's afraid of you."
"I think so too... not that he's all that scared of me but... yeah. I can hurt him in non-physical ways or levitate him off his feet. None of the rest of you can do that. What I don't understand is why exactly this guy just picked a fight with us and then left when he had us beaten."
Gar looked thoughtful. "Sending a message or testing us?"
"Or both," she said. "To what end?"
He shrugged. "Robin will figure it out." She nodded agreement. Even in their strange, chaotic lives some things were sure and reliable One of those was that whatever it was, Robin would figure it out. A few minutes later, she checked the time. "When is your appointment?"
"Ten," he replied.
"We need to get going," she said. They wore civilian clothes, both choosing jeans and hoodies. Their relationship had been public from the first date and was still the subject of a little media attention. Superheros were de facto celebrities and the two of them were the only couple among the younger generation of heroes; at least they were the only one that was public. They had received interview requests from several magazines targeted at teenage girls. The requests had been politely rejected. Gar wouldn't have minded but Rae was adamantly opposed to it. Local media in the city sometimes ran photos of them when they were out together so they tended to dress down. That was not terribly annoying because it was generally positive. The locals tended to think that two of the Titans dating was just adorable, which Rae hated, so they didn't hide but they didn't advertise themselves either. They flew over the bay and then went on foot.
The morning was bright with just a hint of early winter chill. They walked, close but not touching, among the crowds. A few people reacted to their presence but no one approached them. The locals were pretty used to seeing them. It took about an hour for Gar to get his two temporary caps. Rae spent the time in Ben's office meditating. Once that was done, they walked a short way to one of the restaurants in the city that had a "Titan's money is no good here" policy. They didn't often take advantage of such offers but they both sort of felt they deserved it today.
Their meals had just arrived when Gar happened to glance towards the entrance and there, standing next to the hostess stand, was Mike. He snapped from sitting slumped comfortably to rigid tension, which Rae of course saw immediately. She glanced around quickly and her eyes went wide. They both instantly thumbed the emergency alert on their communicators.
Mike smiled at the hostess, pointed at them, and walked in and straight towards them. The hostess looked terrified and began quietly clearing the people out. They both came to their feet. Mike was dressed as casually as they. In jeans and a sweatshirt, he looked every inch a middle class, middle aged man on his day off. His hair was black with a solid first step towards going salt and pepper and he wore a neatly trimmed beard that was more gray then his hair. He grinned, "I told her we needed the room. Hope you don't mind." Gar tensed and crouched in preparation for transforming. Mike made a 't' shape with his hands and said "Time out kids. I just want to talk. My word on it."
"Why should we believe you?" Beast Boy snapped. People started streaming out of the restaurant around them.
"Because I haven't lied to you yet," Mike said calmly. "Look, I know you called your people the second you saw me. I know I only got a few minutes, so you want to spend it busting this nice place all the hell up or will you hear me out?"
Gar glanced at Rae and she said, "OK. Go ahead."
"Here's the deal, kids," he said, pulling a chair from a nearby table and sitting with them. The wood creaked but held. "You'd be surprised how many chairs don't break, being as I weigh what I do. Anyway, I'm the lesser of two evils," he said. They looked confused and he went on. "I aim to get rich with these powers. The way I figure, the worst way to do that is to be all arch-enemy with you sort of folks." He paused as if to see if they had anything to say. They didn't and he went on. "So, I propose an arrangement. I'm going to control the organized crime in this city... like by the end of the week. I was pretty well into that project when I showed my face."
"How does that make you the lesser evil?" Rae asked.
"When I say control, I mean goddamn control. Less street crime. Less violence. Yeah, I'll get rich and some stuff y'all don't entirely approve of may go on but things will be better for everyone. Hell, when the inevitable next invasion of demons or aliens or robots comes in, I'll jump in and bust some heads for truth, justice and the American way. That kind of thing is bad for business. All I ask is that you don't go out of your way to come after me."
"Do you actually think we'll agree to something like that?" she replied derisively.
He stood up. "Well, time for me to be going. Run it by your boss. I got the feeling he might be a little more pragmatic then you think." He backed across the room and just as he was about to go through the door, he grinned and made the 't' gesture again. "Time in," he said as he ducked out of sight.
"You know, given everything," Gar said, looking around the empty restaurant, "we should probably pay for our food."
The rest of the team arrived moments after Mike's exit. A quick but thorough search turned up no sign of him. Apologies were made to the restaurant owners but the Titans were all certain that their money was now very good in that establishment. Raven briefed the team about what Mike had said and Robin cut off the discussion until they were back at the tower. They assembled in the sunken couch area and they all sat for a long moment without speaking. Surprisingly, Cyborg went first. "I'm kind of inclined to just say no and go after him but..."
"We have to consider it," Robin said. Star and Raven looked surprised. Beast Boy didn't respond beyond glancing between Raven and Robin.
"Are you serious?" Raven asked. "We can't. We don't get to decide what laws are OK to break."
"If we know Mike is engaging in criminal activity, we can not turn away!" Star exclaimed.
"There's always going to be street crime," Cyborg said. "We can't stop it. If this guy is serious..."
"And something tells me he is," Robin interrupted.
Cyborg nodded agreement and went on, "I repeat 'If he is serious', and it makes things a little better..." He let his voice trail off.
"Are we seriously considering this?" Raven asked. "It's capitulating to him. It's saying that we're willing to let a superhuman do as he wants just because it's easier then stopping him." A silence stretched out after her words.
"Not because it's easier, because it's a greater net good," Robin said, his hands steepled in front of his face; a sure sign of his deepest thought, "we have to be... pragmatic."
His use of the exact word Mike had chosen sent a little chill up Raven's back. She had never seen him like this. His posture was tight and his face without expression. Somehow, he managed to look dangerous. "Robin?" she said quietly. He acknowledged her only by shifting his eyes towards her. "I've never seen you look more like Batman."
"I don't think I've ever felt more like him," Robin replied. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Is our sense of..." he shook his head, searching for the words, "moral rectitude more important then a real reduction in violence?"
"No!" Starfire all but yelled. "We must stand for the right! We must be an example! It is our duty to defeat the Mike, not ally with him."
"It's a devil's bargain," Raven added, her voice raising along with Star's.
"I'm not making a decision right now," Robin said. "Cy, Star, Raven... you've all made your opinions clear. BB? You've been quiet."
"We should consider it," Beast Boy said. He didn't sound happy about it. Raven's head snapped around towards him in surprise. She stood abruptly, pulling her hoodie down with the same motion she used to hide her face when wearing her full cowl and cape and headed for the stairs. He watched her go with a frown.
"So, we're taking a break," Robin said. "We'll meet again in an hour to go over the fight."
"Make it two," Beast Boy said. "She needs a little time." He stood and watched Raven stalk up the stairs, wavered indecisively for a moment, and then followed her.
Raven would never have dreamed that any of her team would for a moment consider such a ridiculous proposition. At the core of what they did was, had to be, respect for the law. This was their world, the normal people. The parents trying to get to work so their kids could go to school. The people who just want to go have a nice lunch on a Saturday without a confrontation that could level buildings kicking off between the appetizer and the main course. It did not belong to the flawed gods and human monsters. Superhumans had to walk among them, not soar above, subject to the same laws and standards. Just because a few people had the power to defy that law didn't mean they should, no matter what the goal. How many times would people have to relearn the simple lesson that the end does not justify the means?
Her door opened and Gar walked in. For a second, she wanted to turn and rage at him for invading her space unbidden even though he had long had permission. "I need to meditate," she said, her face a mask of control and her posture rigid.
His voice was strained but he spoke carefully. "Sure… in a minute. What happened down there?"
"I need to meditate," she said again, her voice becoming dead cold.
"And I need to know what's going on," he replied. Never before, not even once, had he resisted one of her requests for the time she needed to control her feelings. She found that she resented him doing it now. He waited, crossing his arms across his chest. "Rae, sometimes my feelings matter too."
She sighed. He was obviously right but did they have to matter right now? Even thinking it made her feel petty. Taking a deep breath, she spoke slowly and very precisely. The last thing that needed to happen now was a misunderstanding caused by a lack of clarity. "Of course they do. Always. I'm just absolutely opposed to the idea of an accommodation with this criminal. It is simply wrong. I was…" she trailed off, looking away from him. She couldn't make eye contact with him just then. After steeling herself, she met his eyes. "When you said we should think about it, it really threw me. I was disappointed in you."
Gar's face froze. "OK. Disappointed. Wow," he said.
"Gar, please don't…"
He held up a hand to stop her. "No. I asked. You answered. Robin wanted to go over the fight in two hours. You probably want to meditate so I'll clear out."
For the first time in a very long time, Raven felt like she might cry. "I hurt you," she said softly, "I'm sorry." He quirked a ghost of a smile and looked at her for a long moment trying to think of something to say. "This is my fear you know," she continued, "that something from what we do would come between us. That Raven and Beast Boy would make Rae and Gar impossible."
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Look, I…" The truth was she had hurt him. The idea that she was disappointed with him for something that he honestly felt was hard for him. He didn't want to give her any comfort or solace right then. The childish part of him wanted to hurt her back. Just barely, he restrained himself. "I think it's my turn to need some time and space, OK?"
"Yes," she said, "of course; but, please, Gar, come find me the instant you're ready?" He nodded and walked out of the room.