Author's Notes
To Iskandar06, the Carrie vision at the end of last chapter wasn't meant to be confusing - it was more meant for twofold (one to have Raven face her demon, the other to deal with Terra taking over her place in the Titans). Red X won't be a part of this story, nor will Grant Wilson. Rose will, and should be seen in a few chapters.
To Lord-of-Change, last chapter helped Slade gain more ground in taking over Raven. Originally, I was not expecting to use Terra either but after some thinking, I wound up deciding to use her. And Raven and the Titans will have their first interaction this chapter. Terra probably won't be the sadistic bitch trying to kill the Titans in this story, since Slade was corrupting her in canon. I intend to further develop Terra, and for Raven to face off with her former teammates. How will Second Chance end? You'll have to wait and see.
To guest, I am still working out the ending, since people are still voting on it. Raven isn't about to kill Beast Boy and Terra, not yet at least. I used what I knew about Carrie and tried to apply the characters as best I could to the vision.
To Angel of Azarath, in the comics (and somewhat in canon as well as number of fanfics), Terra got what she deserved for harassing Raven, attacking her, hurting her. The Carrie vision will probably be the sole RobRae moment in the story, unfortunately. And in the vision, Dick wasn't unwilling to go - he also wanted to help Rachel because of the abuse she has taken all her life.
To Kaarlinaa, I doubt you'd be able to re-vote in the poll. Trust me, I know that re-voting in a poll is impossible. Regarding Terra's fate, it will depend entirely upon the ending selected. One ending guarantees Terra's survival while another guarantees her death.
To LordMesirix, Raven is getting somewhat corrupted by Slade in trying to turn her against her teammates - he knows what went wrong with Robin and Terra from the URB and will try to do everything to take her down. Honestly though, I am not a big fan of Corruption (sorry, Lord-of-Change - it's nothing personal but I am just not too fond of stories where Raven dies).
To jovanchin2013, Raven isn't going to kill Beast Boy - at this point, that will not happen in any of the four endings. Like I said at the end of last chapter, it seems perfect for Raven to be seen as Carrie.
To JP-Rider, Ravager will appear in a few chapters. There is more to do in this chapter for Raven.
Happy Thanksgiving readers. Remember to vote in the poll!
Now, let's continue the story.
November 3, 2015. It's been a few days since Halloween when Raven endured her annual torture visions, seeing the Titans as in the movie Carrie and ultimately gave Slade a key hole in helping turn Raven into his apprentice, one completely willing to follow every command.
After several weeks of training, Slade decided to send Raven off on another mission, another theft for him. And he has decided to make it nowhere near as easy as the first. To test just how much she has learned so far.
Slade called, "Raven, report to the main room now."
Raven quickly came in and asked, "What do you request now?"
"Jump City Hall. The mayor has an electronic file of the mob that he has been keeping for blackmail. Your task is to retrieve the file."
"Okay, I'll be on..."
Slade cut her off with, "I'm not going to make it easy for you. Go to the dressing room now to equip. Do it or I activate the probes."
Raven complied and went towards the dressing room where she saw that she had been left a pair of black pants and a set of black gloves.
Raven slipped off her boots in order to put on her pants, which she felt was a little uncomfortable as it covered her legs. Raven quickly noted to herself, "Guess Slade expects me to be seen and he wants to protect his apprentice's identity."
After putting on her boots, she put on both gloves so effectively the only skin that was showing was her face.
Slade walked into the room and complimented, "You look ready. But you're not there yet."
With that, Slade pulled out a tray with the thermal blaster, a few smoke grenades, the teleportation belt, a temporary power suppressor, and an adhesive blaster (which Slade had Raven learn how to use - it temporarily stuck the victim to the nearest surface for several seconds).
Slade picked up the temporary power suppressor and then forcefully grabbed Raven's left arm before putting the suppressor on, effectively disabling her powers for the time being.
Slade noted, "Can't make this too easy for you, now can we? The belt is set to go to for the first jump inside of the female bathroom. The second jump is set for an alleyway two hundred feet away from this location. Make sure nobody follows you back here, or there will be hell to pay. Now, get ready."
Raven slowly nodded as she attached the thermal blaster to her right arm, which then caused it to temporarily contract so a flick of her wrist could instantly access it. She placed the belt on herself and the smoke grenades on a bandolier across her chest. Lastly, she added the adhesive blaster to a holster on the teleportation belt.
Raven said, "Now, I am ready to go. Anything I need to know?"
Slade commented, "Nothing you already don't know."
With that, Raven pressed a button on the teleportation belt and left, which soon led Slade to head towards the main command center so he could watch his apprentice in action.
Raven landed inside of the female bathrooms, in one of the stalls placed under repair by a mysterious looking janitor a few hours earlier. Raven thought to herself, Slade has some powerful connections.
After exiting the stall, she put up her hood and began making her way to the mayor's office, sticking in the shadows as she knew how to do in order to avoid drawing attention - the less attention she could draw, the better as she wasn't ready to fight the police nor the Titans.
Two taser-wielding guards quickly passed by Raven but she quickly avoided them by hiding in the shadows and concealing her eyes by temporarily closing them.
Once she heard them pass (another benefit of her half-demon lineage is her incredibly strong hearing and sight), she continued on her way to the mayor's office, quickly avoiding each security camera as she wanted to get this done as fast as possible - for both herself and Slade.
Slade whispered into the S-shaped earpiece, "You're almost there. The file will be on his computer. Download the file before deleting it. You have four minutes before the mayor returns."
Raven finally arrived at the mayor's office, saying "I'm in" before opening the door slowly and quietly to keep anyone from noticing. After closing the door, she walked up to the mayor's computer and grabbed a USB drive Slade had given her.
She accessed the mayor's computer, inserting the username (JenkinsC) and password (heartbreak84) Slade had given her (which he retrieved by hacking into the city database for the computer usernames and passwords).
Slade told Raven over the earpiece, "The file should be named Criminal Response Strategy. Check it."
Raven opened up the file Criminal Response Strategy and saw what Slade wanted her to retrieve - the names of the mob personnel and assorted information about them she needed to see.
Raven inserted the USB drive and dragged the file into the drive. The computer said, File downloading...Sixty seconds.
Slade told her, "Once the file finishes loading onto your USB, disconnect the drive and delete the file from the computer."
Raven asked, "If you could hack into the database for the usernames and passwords, why couldn't you just hack in for the file?"
"I can't do everything, now can I, Raven? You have forty-five seconds before the mayor comes back. And if you get caught, your friends will pay for that. I guarantee it."
A few seconds later, the file finished downloading. She disconnected the flash drive from the computer and sent the original file into the computer Trash Bin.
Slade then warned her, "The mayor's coming. Get out."
Raven pressed the button on the teleportation belt in an attempt to get out, but she unfortunately discovered that she was still there. Raven said, "Shit! The damn belt isn't working."
Slade told her, "The jump core hasn't recharged yet. Hide where he can't see you."
Upon seeing Mayor Carl Jenkins arriving towards his office, Raven tried to finish deleting the file but realized it was too late.
She ducked out of sight, soon hiding underneath the mayor's couch (which he kept in order to enable him to sit more people) as the Mayor was fiddling with the key to open the door (Raven had received a handy little device to open the door and then lock it so nobody would notice).
The Mayor opened the door and Raven was hidden from sight so he couldn't see her - and Raven knew that she couldn't remain invisible for long, and would be exposed long before she could teleport out of the building.
The Mayor was surprised to see his computer was on and that he was logged in - he had logged off the computer before leaving his office for a meeting. Then, he scrolled over to the Trash Bin, which was seldom filled, and discovered the Criminal Response Strategy in the Trash Bin.
Raven thought, Shit. I've been made. The Mayor, realizing someone else is there, immediately pressed the Titans alarm hidden in his desk, signaling the Titans to the breach in City Hall.
The Mayor pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and left his chair, seeking to find the thief hiding out in his office. He knew someone was there, hearing some breathing nearby, and quickly determined it to be underneath his couch.
One second later, he immediately opened fire beneath his couch, trying to hit Raven. Raven rolled from underneath the couch to avoid the Mayor's gunfire. Raven moved to the side of the desk to get in ambush position.
Upon realizing that the thief was behind him, Mayor Jenkins turned around but Raven jumped up and kicked the gun out of the Mayor's hand before delivering a punch to his head, knocking him unconscious. Raven finished deleting the file from the Mayor's computer before exiting, knowing that stealth is no longer an option as everyone knows she is there, including the Titans.
Raven quickly left the Mayor's office and was encountered by two guards trying to take her down. She delivered a roundhouse kick to the first guard's head taking him out before twisting the other guard's arm and delivering a knee to his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him.
Raven knew she had to get out of there as fast as possible before her former teammates showed up and realized that she was the thief.
She quickly ran out of the building, avoiding most of the other guards, believing she was still in luck, but she still couldn't teleport back to base as the belt had yet to finish charging.
As she was stepping out of the building, she heard a very familiar voice saying, "Don't move. Turn around and put your hands on your head."
Raven knew she couldn't let the Titans know it was her, but she needed to see who was there. Catching a glimpse on a reflective mirror nearby, she spotted the five Titans - Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Terra - all ready to attack her.
Knowing she was outnumbered and outmatched, Raven grabbed a smoke grenade from her pouch and tossed it at the Titans without even turning, demonstrating just how much skill she had gained from Slade's equipment training.
Using the smoke to cover her escape, Raven opened the doors and quickly fled from Jump City Hall with the Titans in quick pursuit - Starfire and Beast Boy (as a falcon) lead the charge with Terra close behind floating on a rock platform. Robin and Cyborg followed as the former used his grappling gun in an attempt to get an edge over the thief whom they didn't know was their missing teammate.
Robin threw two bird-a-rangs at the thief while grappling towards the thief. Raven responded by flicking her wrist to bring out the thermal blaster and fired it at Robin, scoring a hit on his chest and causing him to lose grip on his grappling gun.
Had it not been for Starfire's quick intervention, Robin would have fallen into a mess of a dumpster and be badly wounded if not dead.
After setting down Robin, Starfire took off against the thief, trying to end this fight against the one that hurt her Robin. Raven, wanting to prevent Starfire from getting too close, pulled out the adhesive blaster and shot Starfire in the chest, sticking her to an alley wall as Raven continued to run away from the Titans.
Cyborg fired his sonic cannon right at the thief, but Raven ducked from the blast and fired the thermal blaster right at his chest. Cyborg dodged the blast, knowing what to expect from the thief.
Knowing that Cyborg would be able to expose her, Raven grabbed a smoke grenade and without pulling the pin, tossed it at Cyborg before shooting it with the thermal blaster.
The resulting explosion sent Cyborg flying onto a balcony and effectively decomissioned him from this fight, making the odds that Raven would avoid blowing her cover much better.
Terra shouted out, "Charlie Tango Oscar." This meant "cut the thief off" in NATO phonetics, a strategy that had worked in recent encounters.
As Terra floated off on her rock, aiming to cut the thief off, Beast Boy continued the chase as a falcon, luring the thief into Terra's path.
Raven fired the adhesive blaster and quickly stuck Beast Boy to the ground before he changed back to human, trying to continue the chase.
However, that was not necessary as Terra sent a rock flying that knocked the thief flying into a nearby wall, as she struggled to get up.
Terra shouted out, "Got 'em."
Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg soon joined Beast Boy and Terra in encountering the thief, trying to take her into custody before she could pull anything.
Beast Boy noted upon clearly seeing the thief's face, "That's not Slade. That's..."
As Raven's hood fell down, clearly exposing her face, Robin finished, "Raven." The Titans were absolutely shocked to see that their teammate, missing for six weeks, was robbing City Hall and based on the uniform, working for Slade.
Cyborg asked, "Whoa."
Starfire exclaimed, "No way!"
Beast Boy asked, "Raven, what are you..."
Raven fired the thermal blaster at Beast Boy to keep him from getting any closer before backing away from the Titans.
Cyborg shouted, "Yo!"
Terra inquired, "What is your deal?"
From the earpiece, Slade said, "Not a word, Raven. They're not your friends anymore. Seeing as you have the file and the jump core has recharged, you can return."
Raven quickly pressed the button on her belt and vanished from sight, teleporting to the pre-set location.
Raven walked into Slade's lair with the USB drive as Slade watched her with apparent interest, with his back turned away from the monitors that showed the Titans confused at the alley.
Slade said, "Excellent work, Raven. Another success. I was particularly impressed how you were able to fight your former friends. I believe that the probes didn't have as much of an influence on you as I expected."
That particularly pissed off Raven as she declared, "Sooner or later, you'll let your guard down. I will get that controller and the instant that they are out of danger, you will pay."
Slade walked up to Raven, saying, "That sounds like a threat, young lady. Quite a good threat, actually." He complimented Raven for threatening to kill him? How twisted is that, but of course, Slade is a strange man. Perhaps this is part of her corruption.
He continued, "Betrayal, destruction, revenge. We really do think alike."
Slade turned his back on Raven as she aimed the thermal blaster at his back, trying to get the trigger to the nanoscopic probes.
Before she could fire, Slade grabbed her wrists in one hand and said, "Another little modification of your uniform. All weapons have been deactivated upon re-entry, unless I choose to reactivate it, which seeing this incident, discourages it. Anyway, I monitored your vital signs during the mission. Elevated heart rate, adrenaline, endorphins. You won't admit it, but at some level, you enjoyed stealing for me. It was a thrill, wasn't it? You're going to keep stealing Raven. And you're going to keep getting that thrill. And sooner or later, you will see things my way. Who knows? I may even become like a father to you."
Raven absolutely was pissed by what Slade had said - he was insinuating that she enjoyed stealing from him and fighting the Titans and that eventually she will become more like the man she hates most in the world - her father Trigon excluded as he is no man.
Raven snarled, "I don't need a father. I did just fine without one." As she says that, she literally feels the underworld burning beneath her.
November 4, 2015. Back at Titans Tower, the Titans were dumbstruck at what had happened back at Jump City Hall - Raven, who had previously sworn to take down Slade, was now working for the one-eyed mastermind committing a theft at said place, wearing a Slade outfit. This set of events was completely baffling to the Titans and now they were trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
Beast Boy was dressed up as Sherlock Holmes, wearing the long coat and hat but was not holding the pipe - Beast Boy was avidly anti-tobacco, a stance taken by all of the Titans. Terra actually thought that the Holmes outfit was cute on the changeling. Robin, Cyborg, Terra, and Starfire were all in the room, listening to the changeling's explanation.
Beast Boy said, "Okay, the way I see it, there are only two logical explanations. One, Raven's been replaced by an evil robot double. Two, she's another innocent victim of zombie mind control." Not very logical explanations, seeing how they saw Raven in the flesh.
Robin interjected, "As logical as either of those sound, if anything was controlling her mind, I would have detected it. I'd know if Slade had a hold on her."
Terra added, "I don't know Raven as well as you do, but her heart rate and breathing seemed normal like she wanted to attack us."
Cyborg threw in, "And my scanners confirmed her biometrics. That was the real Raven - our Raven."
Starfire screeched, "Lies! That was not Raven! Your scanners are wrong! Raven is our friend and nothing could ever make her betray us."
Terra said, "But something did."
Beast Boy suggested, "Three words, disgruntled radioactive clone."
With that fairly stupid suggestion, Cyborg grabbed Beast Boy and he soon became a paper dummy that was soon knocked away by Robin's spin kick. He screeched in pain.
Robin commented, "No matter what the reason, no matter how much we wish it wasn't true, Raven's a criminal now. And just like any other criminal..."
Cyborg finished, "...the Titans have to bring her down."
Watching from his base, Slade commented to himself, "They already suspect her. Now it is time to finish her off to them."
A few hours later, the Titans needed to get some away time from the current situation - maybe trying to get a new angle on why Raven betrayed them for Slade. Too bad they probably weren't going to figure it out on their own. They were soon going to get a new angle on the situation, though, one that none of them expected.
To get a break, the Titans decided to go to a little park about twelve miles outside of Jump City - a park Terra knew very well and knew that would be abandoned - the Titans needed some privacy.
Upon arriving at the park, Cyborg quickly got out a football for a very intensive football game - Cyborg and Starfire versus Beast Boy and Terra with Robin acting as a referee.
Beast Boy shouted, "One Gotham, Two Gotham, hike" and passed the ball to Terra, who glided across the ground using two mounds of earth as Starfire pursued her in the air and Cyborg went after her over land with Beast Boy trying to protect Terra so she could get a touchdown.
After a minute or so of intensive chasing, Terra was able to reach the endzone and dropped the ball with a powerful throw that caused the ball to soon bounce far away from the Titans, soon causing it to fall over a hill and far away from the Titans.
Upon noticing the ball going far away from them, Beast Boy suggested, "I'll get it."
However, before he could move towards it, the ball mysteriously impacted Beast Boy's head as a mysterious voice greeted them with, "That will not be necessary."
The Titans all recognized the voice - the voice that haunted all Titans, the voice of Slade. The man continued, "Hello, Titans. Remember me?"
Robin immediately pulled out his bo-staff as he growled, "Slade. What do you want? What did you do to Raven?"
Slade replied, "I did nothing to Raven. You know that and found no signs of my influence on her. Her decision to work for me was entirely her choice. What makes that so hard to believe, Robin?"
Cyborg asked, "How the hell do you know...? How the hell did you get cameras into the Tower?"
Slade's answer was, "I have my methods. Just as I have my reasons for standing in front of you today, right now, right here."
Robin shouted, "Titans go!"
With that, Terra sent a massive mound of earth right towards Slade, aiming to finish the fight quickly and easily, maybe defeat the enemy that has plagued the Titans for months.
That move proved to be completely ineffective as Slade delivered a powerful punch that destroyed the attack before it could impact him.
Slade charged right at the Titans, first going after Terra. The geomancer tried to send more rocks towards Slade but before she could, the mastermind tackled her off of her rock, holding her tightly by the arms.
He menacingly said to her face, "I do hope that I'm not causing you to lose control."
That statement made Terra struggle with all of her might not to completely lose control and potentially kill them all - well maybe Slade would manage to live. As she struggled, Slade added, "You probably should get a new look. A new uniform would better suited for you and building some muscle wouldn't hurt you as well."
Beast Boy turned into a gorilla and grabbed Slade by the neck, forcing him to let go of the petite geomancer. Beast Boy slammed Slade into the ground, hoping to finish the man off.
Slade didn't look any bit concerned, which could worry anybody nearby as he delivered a powerful kick to the stomach that knocked Beast Boy down. Slade clawed out of Beast Boy's grip and delivered a punch to the face that rendered him unconscious.
Starfire peppered the ground near Slade with starbolts, forcing him to take quick evasive maneuvers before grabbing a chain in his belt that he threw at Starfire.
The chain grabbed hold of Starfire's legs and caused her to crash into the ground. As she struggled to get rid of the iron that was constricting her flight, Slade went after Cyborg, who quickly sent the masked criminal away with a sonic cannon blast.
Slade rushed at the half-robot with a pair of combat batons. Cyborg tried to send down Slade before he could take him down. This hope has as much a chance of becoming true as the chances are of speaking to Napoleon tomorrow, i.e. zero.
Slade's batons were quickly proven to be effective against Cyborg, as they were much heavier than a normal baton, delivering pounding blows in Cyborg's armor, denting it severely before delivering a double blow against his head that knocked him onto the ground.
Two quick bird-a-rangs from Robin disarmed Slade as he turned around to see the Boy Wonder charging at him with his bo-staff.
Robin yelled at him, "Why are you here? You already took Raven from us! What more do you want?"
Slade grabbed Robin's bo-staff as he said, "To tell you the truth about Raven. She was never yours. Do you think she even wanted to be with you? Why do you think she was holed up in her room? Searching for me, maybe? Or did she need the privacy from you?"
Robin screamed at him, "What do you want from her?"
Slade mocked, "She didn't tell you. I thought you were friends."
Robin kicked Slade in the stomach and forced the bo-staff away from Slade before charging at him with the bo-staff.
Slade sent one punch that bent the bo-staff, rendering it almost useless.
Beast Boy regained consciousness and turned into a raptor, charging right at Slade as he was beginning to pummel Robin with a barrage of punches.
Beast Boy released Robin from Slade's grip as Slade focused himself on defeating Beast Boy, choking him to the point Beast Boy was forced to change back to human form.
Beast Boy choked out, "What the hell are you here to say?"
Slade calmly responded, "To explain why you lost Raven. What did you think she was?"
"What do you mean? Are you saying she's not a metahuman?"
"Metahuman? She's only half-human. Her other half is something much more exquisite, much more dangerous."
"No. It can't be true."
"But it is, Garfield. Raven is half-demon. Good was never in her nature."
"Liar! She is still human, good is a part..."
"A part of herself. Humans tend to have less than noble tendencies have you forgotten? She was never going to work out as a hero. Explains why she is working for me."
Cyborg blasted Slade off of Beast Boy with his sonic cannon. Slade continued, "Raven was never going to tell you who she really is, until it would so happen to endanger your lives, and even then, she still might not. Perhaps when the prophecy comes to pass."
Terra inquired, "Prophecy? What prophecy? What is there involving demons and a prophecy?"
Slade replied, "The Prophecy of the Gem. The Gem of Skaath. When Trigon comes to Earth and ends all life on this planet."
Terra questioned, "Trigon the Archfiend?"
Slade answered, "The very same, and he just so happens to be Raven's father. That is source of her powers."
Robin got up and tackled Slade, trying to rip the man's mask off. Robin shouted, "You're lying! Raven wouldn't bring him here. She has no reason."
Slade said, "Perhaps it is then that I should enlighten you about her past. She is not of this dimension as you have no doubt figured out. She hails from Azarath, fleeing a few months ago when she was unable to handle the treatment forced upon her by the people of her dimension. Beating her, branding her, raping her. Friends tell each other the important things, do they not? And did she ever mention any of this?"
Robin added, "Raven said that if we knew what she really was, we wouldn't want her around. Now we know why."
"There it is, Robin. Now, are you more angry at me for telling you the truth or more angry at her for lying to you for so long?"
With that, Robin sent a powerful punch right at Slade but he caught it without difficulty and sent Robin right off of him.
Slade continued, "She never was your friend. She never will be your friend again. Now, she is my apprentice."
Robin, Beast Boy, and Terra were just about ready to go after Slade to tear him apart. Beast Boy asked, "Are you too scared to fight three teenagers?"
Slade answered, "No. I just have other things to deal with at the moment. I did enjoy our talk. This is goodbye for now."
With that, Slade jumped away from the Titans and vanished, seemingly into thin air. He was gone, and with that, any hope the Titans had of being able to reconcile with Raven.
Back at Titans Tower, the Titans were now trying to figure out why Slade had confronted them in the park. What had Slade done to convince a half-demon to become his apprentice? Why were the Titans able to catch Raven? Why was she not using her powers? Was Slade even telling the truth?
Cyborg was running facial recognition of Raven against members of the Church of Blood, whom they all knew were the worshippers of Trigon. Upon getting a result, Cyborg said, "I got a partial hit on an Angela Roth. She disappeared from Gotham about fourteen years ago. From what it looks like, she was pregnant. DNA is a match as well. Angela Roth is Raven's mother."
Robin continued, "And Trigon is her father. Slade was telling the truth."
Cyborg added, "No shit. His vital signs showed no signs of lying. That still leaves us with a few questions to answer."
Beast Boy, upon realizing something, suggested, "Cy, could you go to your video logs of the robbery last night, when we were confronting Raven?"
Cyborg quickly put up the video feed of the chase last night that led the Titans to Raven. Cyborg asked, "What do you need to see green bean?"
As Cyborg slowly fast-forwarded the video to where the Titans found Raven, Beast Boy said, "Stop. Look at her left arm."
Cyborg zoomed in on Raven's left arm and saw that there was something attached to it. Something that looked familiar yet so out of place.
Terra asked, "Do you guys recognize it?"
Robin answered, "Yes. It's a temporary power suppressor. We put it on metahuman criminals to ensure they can't use their powers. Why would Slade put it on Raven and send her out to a robbery in the middle of Jump?"
Beast Boy surmised, "There's only one logical explanation. Slade wanted us to know she was working for him. That leaves us with our big question..."
Robin finished, "Why is Raven Slade's apprentice?"