Disclaimer: TT/DC not mine

Thank you discb and D3MI-D3M0N for your continued support of this story. Nice to have people who actually look forward to my updates.

Now, onward to the story itself - this chapter along with the next few will be rather short in comparison to my others, but I will be updating very quickly, so hang tight.

"Speech"

Thoughts

The Watchtower

"Bruce, how's the situation in Gotham?" Superman looked at a screen that showed Batman working in the batcave, hunched over a DNA analysis device. The dark knight looked up.

"You look terrible."

Superman sighed, rubbing his eyes. The redness in his irises and the dark bags underneath showed how little sleep he had gotten during the past few days, presumably due to his grief over losing his cousin, Kara Zor-El. Actually, she was more like a little sister to him than anything, and the only other remaining member of his race. But more than that, she had been his family, and she had been taken away from him. Always among the more sentimental members of the League, Superman had not taken her loss well. The demons that had taken her away from him had not stood much of a chance against his wrath.

"Don't act so tough, Bruce. You must be grieving as well for the loss of Tim - "

"Diana. I'm fine."

"Bruce," Wonder Woman pleaded with him. "I lost many of my sisters as well. I know how much it hurts. Please, you have to let us help you-"

"I'm busy."

Diana huffed and sat back, although after a moment, the irritation on her face was replaced with an expression more downcast. She didn't like it when he acted like this, so aloof, emotionless, when she knew he was grieving alone. And he always hid it under a facade of working on a solution to whatever problems might present themselves, in this case, demons. She supposed it was a way of distracting himself from his own sorrow, or maybe a form of vengeance in itself, but it was still just a coping mechanism.

Batman looked at the screen with a grim look on his face. "I'll contact you when I find something useful." And with that, the screen went black and he was gone.

Wonder Woman sighed. "Well, I guess that's it then. We each have to fend for ourselves. With GL missing, we're already shorthanded..."

"It hasn't been too bad in Central City," Flash said rather cheerfully, given the gravity of the situation.

"Oh really? I heard that Kid Flash got himself killed trying to fight those demons - "

Flash's eyes narrowed. "Please don't talk about that."

Another coping mechanism. Trying to forget that anyone ever died.

"Please, please, let us not talk about our lost loved ones now," Martian Manhunter said. "I know too well the pain that you must all be going through. But we must not let it overcome us in these dangerous times. We must defeat our foes, and then we can grieve for those we have lost."

"Now you sound like good ol' Bats," Flash smirked at him. "Save the world first, be sad later."

"That's what we're here for," Superman replied. Despite his relatively gloomy demeanor, that was just who he was. The iconic superhero of the world, always putting society's safety before himself. "But we'll need some extra help, with GL missing. Anyone have any suggestions?"

The rest of the League founders looked at each other.

"Zatanna?" Flash said uncertainly.

The giant computer screen in the founders' meeting room suddenly turned on again, and Batman's face appeared on it. "No." And he disappeared again.

They looked at each other again. "Well, I guess that settles that. Anyone else in mind?"

"Jason Blood?"

"Etrigan? You must be out of your mind. He's a demon for God's sake."

"Yes, but Jason is a man, and he has a certain degree of control over his demon -"

"No, I agree with Diana," Superman interjected. "He's too dangerous. The man may be reliable but the demon is not. Someone else."

"Hawkgirl? She had something going on with GL, didn't she? Who better to sub in for him while he's missing?"

"Weird logic, but good choice. It might work. Hal was talking about bringing her into the team, wasn't he? Why don't we give her a chance?"

Everyone shrugged. It wasn't like any of them had any ideas. It was common to defer to Superman on these issues, as there really weren't any alternatives. And they all knew, after fighting those demons, that they would need all the help they could get.

"Right, I'll take your silence as approval. Guess I'll go tell her then."

The Batcave

"Master Bruce - "

"Not now, Alfred."

"Yeah, Alfred, he's too busy brooding, cant you see that?" Barbara smirked at him.

"Yes, I'm well aware that Master Bruce is always brooding, but even he must take time away from his work to eat and sleep."

Barbara shrugged. "Well, you try getting him to budge, 'cause I've failed."

"Not now, Alfred." Batman spoke as his butler opened his mouth.

Alfred grumbled a little under his breath, but knew that once 'Master Bruce' had set his mind on something, there would be no stopping his obsession.

"And you, Miss Barbara? Might I interest you in some dinner?"

"Thanks Alfred, but I really should be staying with Bruce-"

"Go eat."

She turned grumpily to glare at Batman, who was slaving away, trying to analyze the remains of one of the demons they had captured. "If I have to eat, then why don't you?"

"Because, I'm Batman."

The auburn haired girl raised an eyebrow, and Batman smirked. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

She sighed at him. "Stubborn old man."

"Well, aren't you in a good mood..."

Batgirl smiled a little. "Actually, I felt much better after kicking those demons' butts. Made me feel really good."

"Good. Now go eat."

"But- uh..." she faltered under the terrifying gaze of the batglare. "Well, you should come eat too - fine. Be that way. See if I care when you starve to death."

Batman ignored her and went back to his work. Although it was not long before she returned with a plate of food in hand and set it beside him next to the computer screen.

"Thanks," he grumbled at her.

"Knew you'd eat if I brought you food," she smirked.

"You know me too well," he replied sarcastically, but not really sarcastically. She did know him pretty well, after all.

Underneath the mask, Bruce Wayne was really just a man, one hampered by human limitations, requiring food and sleep like any normal human, and when hit, could be injured as easily as any other man. And recovered as slowly as a human as well. And he had his emotions like any normal human; he was not just grumpy or unfeeling, but actually rather sentimental, caring... the only real emotion that he lacked was happiness. Real happiness. Sure, he had his moments of wry mirth, but the simple lack of optimism in him, or perhaps rather the very prevalent pessimism that had consumed him for years made certain that he would not truly be happy. Yet the other emotions he had.

And then he put the mask on and he was Batman. No longer a human, but a hero with superpowers on par with those possessed by Superman, Flash, or any of his other League comrades. Yes, simply by virtue of being Batman, he always won. Well, except for those rare occasions where he lost, but still won in the end because he was Batman.

Yep, that was his super power. Being Batman.

Well, okay, he actually didn't have any 'super powers' so to speak, yet there was one reason why Batman had been able to clean up Gotham more quickly than any of his counterparts in Metropolis or Central City, and that was simply by virtue of being more prepared. In a straight on fight against any of these supernatural beings, he would always have the disadvantage of being merely human, and so he always compensated by exploiting his opponents weaknesses and preparing plans beforehand. It was called being ready.

"You're brooding."

"Yes, I am."

"About what?"

Well, Bruce Wayne knew exactly why he had succeeded at being the Batman. Mortal, weak human fighting against all sorts of supernatural creatures of impossible strength compared to him, he should have been dead long ago, save for the fact that he had 'been ready' every time he fought them. That was why he had succeeded. It wasn't boasting, though he did let his pride cloud his judgment from time to time (Raven could give him a lesson on that too!), but a mere fact. That being said, he did have somewhat of his own ego, though not quite hubris, in the sense that he fancied himself superior to everyone else. It was more of an ego in the sense that he would do everything by himself and believed that he could, although he also had no qualms about using other people to achieve a final goal. A master manipulator as well.

And yet he was prudent enough to know when he was outmatched and required help; then, he was willing to shelve his ego of being able to do everything by himself in order to serve a greater good... survival.

Of course, a man shoving aside his pride was not an easy thing, and it was exactly why in times of crises like these, Batman felt most uncomfortable. Being forced to rely on others... it was not a pleasant thought to him. But he was a man who did what he had to do.

"Right. Never mind. Your mind is not a nice place to be."

"Glad I managed to teach you something after all."

Barbara crossed her arms and glared at him. Of course, Batman of all people was not going to be cowed, especially not by his own sidekick, and he met her glare with a much more intimidating one of his own. They stared at each other for a few moments. Then Batgirl looked away.

"I hate you."

"I still have to teach you to stare better apparently."

Batgirl sighed. "Shouldn't you be obsessing over your work rather than teasing me?"

"I should be," Batman replied, but did not remove his intense gaze from her face.

"Then why aren't you - "

"I already know how to beat these weak things," he gestured at the remains of one of the weird lava demon creatures they had been fighting. "It's a matter of how to defeat the stronger ones."

"Okay, and do you have any ideas?"

"The weaker demons are all susceptible to cold, as you might expect. No reason to expect that the other ones wouldn't be. But that's not enough."

Batgirl raised an eyebrow. "But you have another idea, don't you?"

"Call it a hunch rather than an idea."

"Well, lay it on me."

"You know Etrigan, right?"

"Yeah, that demon that Jason Blood controls?"

"Yes. Both he and Jason have an extensive knowledge of the functions of demonkind, though Etrigan tends not to like to divulge that information without a price, and Jason knows quite a bit less than him. But I did hear that there are many different types of demons, and the ones that we are fighting happen to tbe the one from the "inferno" circle of hell, where Trigon rules."

"And?"

"So obviously you'd expect them to be weak to cold. But from what he told me, he's suggesting that there are other circles of hell as well, with many different types of demons. If they were to come here as well, we wouldn't just be able to rely on one type of counter to them."

Batgirl's eyes narrowed. "Wait. So you're telling me that this army of demons that was able to take down so many League members and is giving us so much trouble... is only one of many?"

Batman nodded grimly. "How many, I don't know. But I do know this. If we want to survive, we need a one tactic counters all to combat these demons."

Batgirl shook her head in disbelief. "Even if that were true, how are you going to manage such a thing?"

The dark knight gestured to the screen behind him, where there was an image of a red skinned demon on it. Then, pressing a few buttons, he exposed the organs behind the skin, the muscular structure, skeletal structure, and finally settle on zooming in on the brain.

"You know that girl that Richard talked about?"

Batgirl nodded slowly. "What was her name... uh... Raven, wasn't it? I remember seeing her. She was kinda creepy, wasn't she? Almost like you."

"I'm creepy, huh."

"Well, yeah. I mean, even you have to admit it, Bruce."

"Sure," he held his hands up in surrender. "But that's beside the point. Raven was half demon."

Batgirl's eyes bugged out. "She was what?"

"Don't worry, she's proven to be trustworthy and she's helped many people in the past."

"But she's a demon! No wonder she was so creepy..."

Batman sighed. "You're missing the point. What I'm saying is, I took the opportunity to observe what demons, or at least half demons who possess many of the characteristics of demons, are like."

"And what did you find out?"

"Demon physiology seems to be the same as that of a human for the most part, at least among the humanoid ones. Their power doesn't stem from enhanced cellular density like Superman's nor does it come from their bodily systems. It comes from within their minds. Think about it."

Batgirl frowned and pondered for a moment. "So ideally you'd disrupt their mental processes, and then they'd be helpless. If you can keep them from focusing-"

"Yes," Batman turned to the screen behind him and brought up a chart of data. "I took the opportunity to run some tests on Raven. It seemed that this hypothesis was correct - whenever I placed her in some sort of environment that disrupted her concentration, the amount of energy she released dropped drastically. Simply put, if a demon can't focus, it can't fight."

"I can't believe you'd use her as a test subject like that! Did she even consent-"

"No. She also didn't know that I was using her as a test subject."

"Bruce!"

Batman frowned. "Who was the one who was just spouting off nonsense about how she was a demon and all that-"

"Okay, but she still has rights! You can't justuse people like that!"

Batman shrugged. "I'm sure she had some idea of what was going on. She's both a telepath and an empath - there's no way she had no idea at all."

Batgirl sighed. It was never any use arguing with Batman. He was just too stubborn to admit that he was wrong sometimes and it was also very difficult to win an argument against him because of the speed at which his mind worked. So, in the end, she gave up, and decided to just work with him on the newest assortment of devices that would help disrupt the mind's processes - things that emitted flashes of bright light, chemicals that disrupted nerve signals, and plenty of other gear that would fit into their utility belts. It might have been a bit far fetched to prepare so much in advance based only on Batman's hunch, but his hunches usually were pretty accurate; it was one of the things that made him such a great detective. Of course, sometimes, his instincts were also wrong as well.

Titans' Tower

"Alright everyone!" Cyborg slammed down a giant pot onto the kitchen table with a huge grin on his face. "To celebrate us finally getting away from Slade and being reunited, we're going to have my special, gourmet, triple meat sauce pasta!" He lifted the lid and a wondrous smell filled the room, and there were oohs and aahs all around... except from Beast Boy, who was looking very grumpy at the fact that Cyborg had intentionally forgotten the fact that he was a vegetarian. Terra, who was at his side, laughed softly at him and reassured him that Cyborg was only teasing him, but Beast Boy still looked grumpy nonetheless.

Beside her, Starfire was chatting with an unusually unresponsive Jinx, who seemed very distracted with something else -

"Friend Jinx?"

Jinx blinked a couple times. "Uh sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was just asking you why friend Nightwing is not on the good terms with the police- are you listening?"

"Yeah..." Her voice trailed off as the single word returned her to her own thoughts about a certain violet haired girl, whose presence at the table was sorely missed - at least by her - since she said she didn't really want to face all of Titans just yet. So she had stayed locked up in her room and was presumably sleeping or meditating.

And finally Nightwing, who seemed even more distracted than Jinx did. With good reason, of course. The other Titans were still unaware of his doings while they were being held captive by Slade. Killing police officers, innocent people, almost shooting Raven to death... he had actually considered telling them what he had done, since they probably were going to find out eventually, but Raven had actually talked him out of it. After he had proven that he had truly changed, and after he had earned back Jinx's trust, at least then could he tell the rest of them. At least then would they understand that his old arrogance and aloofness was a thing of the past.

Raven's reassurance that they would not hold it against him was actually quite comforting, which was weird considering the fact that comfort had never really been her thing. And really weird considering that she was supposed to hate him for trying to kill her.

Now, Nightwing wasn't exactly empathic the same way Raven was, but he had some powers of insight through pure observation. So he wasn't sure of it, but he thought that Raven still might love him, even just a little. Not enough to forgive him, but still enough that she would be uncharacteristically nice to him. It was weird how things worked out sometimes.

And why was it that he could only think about her now, even though he should have been celebrating the fact that the team was all together again? Though it was rather strange to think of her this way, there was something charismatic about her. No, Raven was not a natural born leader nor merely a follower or a soldier. She was usually a loner, with maybe only one other person to associate with - that would be Jinx, he suspected - anything but charismatic. Well, that was how he used to think of her. But lately, there had been something about her slightly different. Maybe it was the mark of someone being forced into a role she wasn't typically used to, but he felt like she was at the forefront of something big. Like she was leading the charge against their enemies, instead of him.

Well, he didn't know just yet how right he was, but he had a sense that Raven wasn't quite what she once was. Oh yes, she was still anti-social, moody, elusive, and all of the other things he had known her to be. But he felt like - and again, she might have been reluctantly doing it - the emphasis on fighting evil had shifted to her from him.

Okay. Batman was right. I really am an egomaniac. Does it matter who's the one leading the battle against evil as long as the evil itself is vanquished? I shouldn't be jealous of her just because she's the one leading the charge and not me.

But she's a demon. Can I really trust her? Or maybe she's actually working with the evil! Maybe she'll actually betray us at a critical point and -

Stop it! There's no way she would do something like that. You're just working with baseless assumptions. It's not even certain that anything's changed about her at all. She might be the same as she's always been. Maybe it'll be the same as it's always been. If we lead, she'll follow.

Yeah right. Remember when she got back? There was something haunted in her eyes. Almost like she were staring into death's face - she was scared of something. Not just scared. Terrified, like she could see something we couldn't.

So? Maybe she was scared of me.

Not a chance. You felt it too, didn't you? Through the bond. She was being forced to do something she didn't want to do, but had to do.

And?

And nothing. Just keep a close watch on her.

Nightwing shook his head a couple times. Okay, let's get a couple things straight. One, even if Raven has changed and she's the leader now, I'm fine with being a follower. You're not just because you want all the credit for yourself. You just want to feed your own ego. And two, I know her. She wouldn't betray us even if she was being forced to. She'd fight to the last breath. You're just too blind to see that because you only care about yourself.

You're saying she'd never betray us? Do you really think she cares about humans that much? After how much people, others and us, her family, have made her suffer, don't you think she's got a bit of a grudge against us?

That may be. But she still wouldn't abandon us if we were in trouble. Or, if not me, then humans in general. She'd still play the hero and try to save people, even if she doesn't believe in them. Because that's just the way she is.

But she wouldn't save you-

Do I even deserve to be saved?

Silence.

Nightwing?

The masked hero looked up and found himself staring at a pair of violet eyes glowing in the darkness underneath an indigo colored hood.

Raven? What are you doing inside my head?

You were thinking about me. I could feel it from up here.

Oh. How much did you hear?

All of it. Your doubts about me.

Oh. Err...

It's fine. You were trying to fight it. I was just surprised that you had deduced so much just from your instincts.

Comes from being around Batman for so many years. He paused. So I was right after all. You're being forced into-

Sort of. Maybe I'll tell you later.

Why are you being so nice to me?

Raven was silent. I don't know. Maybe I just want to be friends again.

Why? I almost killed you.

Because. Because... I don't know. Maybe it's because we share this bond and it's something neither of us can break.

And Jinx isn't good enough for you?

Raven was silent again. I don't want to talk about her, Raven's thoughts reached Nightwing after a moment. Maybe you'll understand once you find someone you... never mind. We're friends too. Just friends.

A smirk touched Nightwing's lips. Trust me, I understand. Did you happen to see Batgirl while you were in Gotham?

A couple times, but we never talked. Why?

We used to have something together, but after I left Batman, we lost touch. I still love her though, but I'd never be able to admit it to her face. Just like you.

I'm not in love with -

Okay, okay, you're not in love. But even if you're good friends with Jinx, just like Batgirl was my 'good friend', I still needed one other real friend too. Someone I could talk to and admit things to that I couldn't to my 'good friend'.

And why's that?

I'm sure you understand. Sometimes you can't talk to the person you love because you're afraid for them. And you're afraid that they'll worry about you or you're worried that you'll ruin your relationship with her.

I'm not in love -

At least, Nightwing droned on over the sound of her voice, not until you feel comfortable enough to admit anything to her and know that both of you would be okay, and it wouldn't ruin anything. But until that time, you need a friend. I can be that friend-

I'm not in love, Raven repeated stubbornly. And we're not friends. I haven't forgiven you.

Then why are you talking to me?

Raven was silent once again.

Raven?

"Nightwing... Earth to Nightwing," Jinx waved a hand in front of the masked hero's face. "You gonna eat or not?"

Nightwing came out of his conversation with Raven and looked at the pot of pasta in the middle of the table, then around at all the faces staring at him. "Right, sorry. I was thinking."

All the other Titans merely chuckled a little, knowing that Nightwing could sometimes be just as brooding as his mentor was, but Jinx was not fooled. Her eyes narrowed at him and she drew closer.

"You were talking to Raven, weren't you," she whispered to him once everyone else had gone back to their own conversations.

"Err-"

"You looked frustrated. I know that feeling."

Nightwing actually laughed a little at that statement. "You certainly have a right to be."

Jinx sighed. "So you were talking to her. Seems like she's forgiven you."

"She said she hadn't - "

"Please. You know as well as I do that she has. She just never admits any of her feelings."

"Well, that definitely seems to be true in your case."

"What are you suggesting...?"

Nightwing smiled. He wasn't going to just come out and say that he knew what was going on between Raven and Jinx, but he had certainly 'suggested' that he knew. And Jinx realized it too, judging by the annoyed look on her face.

"Richard," she said softly. "Stay out of it. I want to deal with her myself."

"Deal with her?"

"Wrong choice of words. But I want to be the one to get her to admit it. Don't help me."

"Lover's quarrel. Right."

Jinx's eyes widened a fraction. "Lovers?"

"What? That's what you are, aren't you?"

The pink haired girl actually smiled at that. "Well, I suppose we are... or, will be."

A/N: Not much to say... generally 'Interlude' chapters aren't very interesting or essential to the plot at all. They merely serve the purpose of smoothing out the plotline and being transitions between more important plot elements... and they include some character development. But...

Maybe sometime soon Raven will be able to admit that she loves Jinx. Hopefully.