After grunting his satisfaction Batman had the former Titans head back to the cave, minus Nightwing. Unlike the Titans and the Doom Patrol, that where reactionary forces that moved out when crimes were reported to them, Batman and his boys actively sought out their fights. And night patrols had not been anything on the three's menu for years. So the car emerges out of the shadows of the cave, and the two occupants get out.

"Cyborg, cloth." Raven mentions as she materializes next to the duo, Cyborg immediately heads for the trunk and gets out the white sheet Raven had thrown at him, before covering his baby with it.

"Thanks Rae." He says, making his way over to the two. Raven taking up the seat to the computer, Beastboy is leaning against the small desk with the forensic lab.

"Wonder if that can run Ultra Monkeys 6?" Beastboy asks out loud, motioning at the supercomputer.

"Gar you'd probably need a degree to get past its logon screen." Raven says flatly.

"Not while I have Cy." He smiles at his big friend, who just eyes him.

"Oh, no! I'm not touching that without permission." He says while holding up his hands and backing away, actually he really wanted to see what the fabled piece of machinery could do but receiving a full system shutdown was not in his immediate plans for the future. Beastboy looks like deflated balloon; instead he spots the staircase behind Cyborg, re-sparking his curiosity.

"So what do you think is up there?"

"Batman's house." Raven says matter-of-factly, since Alfred had come back down to the cave, she guesses it was no longer an option to hide what was up there, but that didn't mean she couldn't warn them. "But think of it as my room, same rules apply, no one goes in without approval of the owner."

"So can we go see your 'room'?" Beastboy asks with a huge grin on his face.

"No." Raven shoots the question down, before continuing. "Remember what happened the last time you went into my room without permission."

"He he, yeah…" He still vividly remembers that day he spent running for his life, leaving much of the Tower's interior in ruins.

"You know, I never found out what you actually wanted in there?" Raven asks, she remembers walking into her room, only to find him standing inside, he managed to get out before she realized it, after that the chase began, looking back she realizes how easy it had been to goad her to anger with that little action, she hadn't even considered that Beastboy had a genuine reason or not, however slim that chance was, it was just easier to assume he was up to something.

"Umm, Cy dared me to…" Beastboy admits while pushing his index fingers against each other and looking at the ground. Cyborg is trying to imitate a tortoise, his head lowering more and more into his chest, while still too embarrassed to move. He had been lucky Beastboy never got the chance to tell on him that day or the next.

"Is that right Victor?" Raven asks her voice still calm and monotone as she leans back in her seat, secretly she is finding it quite amusing seeing them like this, it reminds her of the old days.

"Umm, yeah, but he dared me to eat his tofu." Raven just shakes her head at the pair.

"So did you?" She asks, knowing how much the metal man hated the stuff, and would loudly complain over it when forced or tricked into eating it.

"No, I spat it out as soon as he wasn't looking." Cyborg admits receiving a glare from Beastboy. And soon the pair are back in the old argument, Raven resigns herself to later remove the sheet covering Cyborg's car as payback, Robin hadn't been too happy about the wreckage she had created during the chase.

The clan returns home much later that night, finding the cave quiet. Nightwing notes that the cloth that is supposed to cover Cyborg's car is lying beside it, a lot of droppings are now on the once sparkling car. Beastboy and Cyborg were both sleeping in the beds offered them near the bottom of the cave, mainly because it was possible to prevent them from waking up from the roar of engines due to the constant noise of the river. They find Raven again hanging off the ceiling near the manor entrance, with her boots on the floor beneath her. She actually awakens as they look at her for a moment, still not used to it.

"Good you're back." She says before yawning and sliding down, disturbing only two bats this time.

"Did you not like the room Alfred made for you?" Batman asks, concerned that his employee was not doing his job and he had mentioned there would be a room waiting for her when she got back.

"I'm sure it would be very comfy, but there's a pair of kids down here who's very interested to see how you are living." She says while nodding at the roof. "I thought it was best if I kept watch over them since they are more or less prone to go snooping places they aren't supposed to."

"Did they try?" Robin asks.

"About three hours ago." Raven replies as she notes the time on the computer screen.

Flashback

"Come on, coast is clear." Beastboy says while waving his hand for Cyborg to follow him up to the top platforms, after seeing no one there. Cyborg groans behind him.

"How did I let you talk me into this?"

"Because you want to find out how Batman lives, just like me. Wonder if he's rich, he's got a butler?" Beastboy speculates as the pair makes their way towards the staircase.

"Well duh! You didn't think all this stuff just grew out of the ground?" Cyborg rolls his eye at his green friend who has stopped walking, standing before the staircase with something akin to awe in his eyes.

"One small step for Beastboy, one giant leap for tofu." He says making a moment out of putting his right foot on the first step, getting a quiet sigh out of Victor.

"And one step closer to an early grave." Ravens quiet voice makes them both spin around. "Up here." Cyborg pops his flashlight and begins to scan the area he thought he heard her voice coming from. Spotting first the blue fabric of her cloak, and then lowers the light to see the rest of her. The pair just stares at her.

"Rae…how…what…?" Beastboy begins.

"I thought I needed to keep an eye on you two, and I slept like this most of my absent year. Now get back to bed."

"Dude, she's a vampire, we need garlic." Beastboy whispers to Cy.

"I'm not a vampire, and I do like the garlic Alfred puts in the salad, now march."

Flashback ends.

"I had to convince them I wasn't a vampire though." She says while putting on her second boot.

"And I was hoping to be there when they saw that." Nightwing says while sounding disappointed.

"Thank you for keeping an eye out Raven, could I have that word with you in private now that you are up?" Batman asks, receiving slightly raised eyebrows from Robin and Nightwing.

"Sure." Raven replies. She follows Batman down to the meeting platform; he pushes a few buttons on a console where his seat is, letting a bubble like substance appear around the edges of the platform, sealing it off from the rest of the cave.

"It's a sound proof barrier, so whatever we say in here, stays in here." Batman explains while sitting down, motioning for her to take a seat as well. Raven sits down on the far side of the table from him. Once seated, Batman begins by being straight forward. "You know Richard kept files on all of you?"

"He had files on everyone he interacted with, including our mailman, usually they were very detailed." Raven admits, she had helped with a few of them, like Malchior's and Trigon's. "I would not be surprised that he also had files on his friends."

"You know what they were for?" He asks.

"They were for future reference in case he found himself opposing the ones in the files; he even had one on himself in case something got to him if I remember correctly." Like Slade she adds internally, Batman pushes a few keys letting a 3D sheet appear over the center of the table demonstrating that Cyborg isn't the only one with that kind of projector. If Raven is annoyed by seeing her name on top of the sheet, she gives nothing away only notes that it's not overly detailed, actually it was lacking in comparison to some of the files she had seen Richard make.

"Yours is the most empty of all of the Titan files, and this one has not been updated in, well, years."

"You'd like to know exactly what I can do and what my strengths and weakness' are." Raven states flatly, noting that Batman is at least not going behind her back about it.

"Yes. The file will remain in the cave until a time when I fail to stall an inbuilt failsafe, were the files will be deleted automatically. But they might be released to the League if a situation warrants it." Raven thinks for a moment, she can keep quiet, like she has always done. For the safety and acceptance of her friends, she kept quiet about who and what she really was and what she had been born to do. But she figures Batman has his own way of finding stuff like this out, like how he knew so much about Wilson before even meeting him. It might of course be wise to open up, considering who and what she is, to have someone knowing what to do if she one day lost it.

"You might miss your meeting hour if we are going to do this in one session. You want the back story as well?" She warns, Batman only gives her a slight nod for her to begin. "I was born Raven of Azerath, my mother was called Angela Roth on Earth and born again, figuratively, as Arella on Azerath, my father is the interdimensional demon known as Trigon the Terrible."

"My mother was one of the homeless in Gotham when she was lured into a sect that worshipped Trigon as a divine savior with the promise of shelter and night she willingly offered herself to him as his wife, as their faith proclaimed, she would bear Trigon's prodigal child who would ensure his arrival and the coming of a new Eden for his followers. Trigon revealed his true form to her before I was conceived. After he was done with her, Trigon cast my mother back to Earth while burning the sect and its members to the ground. My mother fled that night knowing she was carrying the devils child, walking the streets of Gotham for weeks, attempting several suicides before being contacted by the nation of Azerath."

"They were long time opponents of Trigon and knew my mother carried his child. My mother then became Arella as she was welcomed to their world, the new name was meant to hide her and me from Trigon. Nine months later, I was born. They say the skies were torn with violent storms for weeks after my birth, but they faded before I became aware of them. From the first day I can remember, I was trained to never show emotions, never to rage, never to cry, laugh or feel joy myself. It was all suppressed in fear of my father taking hold of me. Of course when I was young, I often strayed from my teachings and I was…punished for doing so. When I became older, I began to wonder why none of the other children I saw were like me or were treated like I was. The few times I approached some, they either called me names because of my appearance or were quickly scooped up by their parents or minders who proceeded to quietly scold me for leaving my important studies."

"For the first 7 years of my life, I had virtually no contact with my mother; her feelings towards me were deemed an unnecessary risk, so instead I was raised by the monks of Azar. Azar was our leader and virtual deity to the people of Azerath, and she took over my training when I turned 7. She taught me greater control of my powers and how to use them for good, like when she asked me to heal wounded animals. But it was also her that told me who I was and why I was special, I realized then that at my birth there was both a prophecy and a decree. I learned I was, on the anniversary of my birth destined to one day help my father taker over the world of mortals. I learned it was decreed the day I was born that no one in Azerath was allowed to display any emotion towards me or in my presence. I realized when Azar told me about it that they had failed all of the civilians and many of the monks displayed one thing towards me; fear. And perhaps they simply didn't know that I could already at that age feel the emotions of others far from my sights." Raven stares at the table for a few seconds before continuing unhappily reminded of the day when her world collapsed.

"My time with Azar was too short, her life was spent at an age of over 200 years, I was 10 when she passed away with no successor. After this my mother was entrusted to complete my training, something she had been prepared for in the time when I was growing up, by then I didn't even know her as a relative, she was just another teacher to me. After Azar's passing I began having dreams and visions where I was confronted by my father, he warned me that his time was coming. I argued with my mother and the monks about how to prevent this; I leaned that day that they had been trying, in their way. Azerath was a place build on pacifism, the only way they could act against Trigon's unending lust for destruction, was to do nothing but curb his 'gem' and pray it would be enough, but that I was arguing with them showed them that it had not been enough. I told them I couldn't believe they would do nothing more and they scolded me, saying that they were disappointed that I still, after years of training by them, still harbored the violent nature of my father, as they called it."

"I left Azerath that night at the age of 14, remembering the few stories my mother was allowed to tell me about Earth, usually that it was a savage place were violence was commonplace, and exaggerated as I found out, a breeding ground of evil. But my mother also told me that there were people here who went out of their ways to help and fight for others, sometimes resulting in their own injuries or death. I wanted to find these people and I hoped they would help me in my quest, as you know, that's how I met the League. After I was denied there, I went to Jump City as you asked me to, the only city that seemed to be without any superheroes, where by a strange quirk of fate, I found Robin and the other Titans. The rest should be in the files already." Batman finishes typing, he was mildly shocked, Richard had told him Raven's story was like a bad horror movie, but without going into any details about it, he had said it was a promise he had been made to keep in his head and out of the files.

"What was your training like?" Batman asks.

"Medieval, is the best ways to describe it, one of the first things I mastered was to suppress the feelings of pain and anger, because they were the most dangerous ones. They used that as a reset button for all the others, whenever I became happy or anything they would simply hit me till I was back in line when I was younger, a few times they hit too hard and I passed out." She says remembering the only injuries she was allowed to heal on anything other than animals, were her own, back then she was pretty sure it was because she was some sort of animal herself. Batman was thinking down the same lines, if you hit a dog with a rolled up newspaper enough, then it wouldn't disobey. "But despite having my childhood taken away by them, I am still thankful this day of how their training worked out, even if I wish it will never happen to anyone else." Batman quirks an eyebrow at this, suddenly wondering if Raven might have been damaged mentally by her upbringing before reminding himself that she was damage, but not in the way he was thinking.

"Why?"

"We are alive aren't we?" She shrugs.

"There wasn't an alternative?" He asks.

"Only if I ceased to be physically or mentally. I know it was a bad upbringing, but it happened and there's nothing to do about that now." She says flatly, but Batman can tell she is moved by having the memories dug up he decides to move on from the unhappy subject, her absent year could wait.

"So what abilities do you have?"

"As you know, I am primarily known for being an empath; basically it means I can sense the emotions of others. Over the years I have been able to expand the range and precision of it through training and natural growth, so now I can pinpoint the dominant emotions of a single person in a tight crowd of up to 40 people. After that they begin to blur each other out if they stand too close, this is also how I know when someone is behind me or otherwise out of my field of vision around here. It's a bit like you can feel a source of different temperature in the dark."

"How far does it reach?"

"I can pinpoint emotions at their sources about a kilometer away in every direction from me without difficulty, unless someone is displaying an heightened emotion where it is increased to some 2,5 km. That's at least the greatest range I have felt something at. But my teachers on Azerath and my mother warned me that I would be able to sense the entire Earth if I do not suppressed my empathy to the degree I do…they warned me that I could never hope to come out sane from such an experience. And I believed them after they caught me testing it out on the 350.000 citizens of Azerath, I could barely handle it and Azar had to step in and close the door, so to speak. And these were all tranquil minds; the minds here aren't structured the same way. It might be different today because of the time I've spent here on Earth, but so far I haven't dared trying it again."

"It will be useful considering Tamaranians are depending on theirs for their powers to work." Batman notes, before motioning for her to continue as she nods. "Richard has speculated that your healing abilities are a part of the empathy?"

"It is; when I employ it, I draw the pains of others into myself before I expel them later on through meditation, the reaction is that the body begins rapidly healing. I have a number of limitations on it; I can't cure diseases because I can't draw out the viruses and bacteria. Also, since I draw the pains into me, I end up feeling them as if they were my own and because of that, I can't heal fatal wounds…unless I risk dying as well, that's what I have been told at least of what would happen, as I have never been asked to heal to that extent. Also because of the amount of trauma usually involved in the cause, I can't completely heal broken bones, I can save them a good few weeks of bandages and casts, but anymore than that and it becomes harder for me to do. But besides empathy, I am a telekinetic, meaning I can move objects with my thoughts by temporarily placing a piece of my soul in it. If I use this on a living being I can bridge with them on a telepathic level, meaning I can read their minds and we share memories if allowed, but merging like that can harm both me and the other person unless they accept my presence. It is also my telekinesis that allows me to fly."

"So how did you toss Slade around on your birthday? And why is it Richard never received your memories like you did his?"

"Slade was without a soul at the time, part of it was being held by Trigon, so I couldn't bridge with him, usually if I have to catch people or something like that, I animate their clothes. Robin was under a lot of stress at the time and I am constantly guarding my own thoughts, as I said my father usually tried to get inside my head when I was younger and with my powers rooted there, I wouldn't put it past him attempting to trigger them."

"Is there a connection between the empathy and the other powers you have?" He continues.

"There is; the more I feel, the more power I can unleash. I suspect it was a sort of deliberate boon from my father to make sure I joined up with him when the time was right. The balance I keep is delicate, balancing my own feelings is one thing, but then I have to shut out everyone else's on top of it. Richard may have mentioned it, but I also run the risk of going fully demonic if I feel too much, which is why I always have to be careful. If I could draw on everything however with no risks…I don't know really." She sighs as Batman types it down while he thinks about just how powerful the young woman across from him really was.

"Do you still fight Trigons presence?" Batman asks, somewhat timidly.

"I am not sure if it really his him, or just his ghost I imagine there, but I shut it out all the same. He's not one to give sound advice. It may also be the demonic side of me that is trying to get control of me, and that I won't allow, not even a foothold."

"Do you know how much your telekinetic powers can move?" Raven remains silent for a moment before answering.

"Truthfully I don't know, the greatest mass I have ever moved with it, was two 10 story buildings I made to move together. It was on my birthday and I was running from Slade, I was stressed and unfocused, sadly, that didn't stop him from branding me." Batman quirks yet another eyebrow at this, prompting her to explain. "For me to become Trigons portal, certain marks had to be placed on me. Slade was quite pleased with that particular assignment."

"You managed a lot of things back then, are still able to do them?" He continues.

"I stopped time at one point, had absolute command over Trigon's army as long as I obeyed him and I undid all the damage he did. I don't know if I can do any of them again, but I am pretty sure the remaking of the planet was a onetime thing triggered by my interaction with my father, I figure was using his power to do it, but I'm not sure."

"Add to it you obliterated a being that destroyed the planet." He notes as it dawns on him that she did that in a world where there were only a handful of people left.

"Batman, I am not totally sure about the things I did that day, I am not even sure what happened to him. If he is truly dead or imprisoned somewhere and just biding his time, I honestly can't say. As he always said, he claimed to be the source of all evil, if he is really dead why is there evil still in this world?" She expects some kind of reaction from Batman, angry or upset, she can't account for one of the most powerful beings in existence.

"Evil doesn't stem from a single source Raven, it comes from choice and point of perspective. One may see one man's actions as evil, another may see them as good. Trigon may have claimed to be where all the bad choices came from, but he also said you could do nothing against him moments before you annihilated him. I would take what he said as boasting to fuel his own ego and cow the listener."

"We hope I did." Raven underlines. "Anyways I am also capable of altering my appearance and voice, it was a small trick I know my father left me in case I needed to hide, I can push it to a certain degree but it is not on the level I hear the Manhunter posses. I have to roughly maintain my own size and it's mostly visual camouflage, like I can look like I'm made of rock, but I won't feel like it if touched. Trigon went into a lot of trouble to make sure I survived to do his bidding. When I was with the Titans, I only used it rarely, either when asked to scare someone or when I wanted people to get away from me."

"Was that what Richard saw the night you fought Etrigan?" As asks as Raven slowly gets up, and begins to stare out of the transparent barrier behind her. "Raven?" Batman asks softly.

"Batman, can you promise me you won't tell the other about this yet?" She asks quietly. "I am not ready to let them know."

"I won't." He says after a few seconds and removes his hands from the keyboard.

"The battle with Malchior had a price for me beyond rendering me homeless; the dragon cast a curse on me during the fight, forcing me to be reversed in appearance. I am not who I was anymore, what you see now is an illusion, were once you saw the cage. He forced me to become demonic in appearance instead of human. He could only cast such a spell because I am a half breed, before a demon in human disguise now a human inside the demon." Raven slowly turns around to face the man behind her, while her other form slowly appears, but Batman appears neither surprised nor alarmed at the sight of her.

"So this is your true self? How you really look?" He asks.

"It is, it took me half a year to be able to appear as you've seen me now as the curse also locked my shape shifting powers down. This change was also a reason why I fled Jump City, they were already displeased with me, the destruction of the city and my appearance would have them chase me out."

"So is all you have shown us all an illusion?" He asks.

"No, this is a full transformation; the difference is that I have to fight to look human." She says a little agitated before changing back. "I have noticed that I have increased physical capabilities when I am in my other form, how much I don't know, but it was enough to handle Etrigan. I suppose I could say it much like him, only when I transform, the mind remains the same."

"You never sought out Dr. Fate to help with it?"

"Word would have gotten back to the League and they will come knocking." The mention of the League prompts Batman to remember something.

"Zatanna has disappeared from the hospital you left her at, I assume she's gone to the League." Raven sighs deeply, knowing what this meant, before sitting down.

"Yippee, like we didn't have a pending invasion to deal with." She says while burying her head in her hands. "Look I will understand that I can't be here anymore if the League starts hunting for me, I won't let myself become a wedge between you and them."

"Zatanna went against my orders of leaving you alone, bringing the League in is only building on that, and they know Gotham is off limits to them unless I call them in or a dire crisis is involved." He states matter-of-factly.

"A dire crisis consisting of a demon apparently brainwashing the world's greatest detective, his two protégé's and two former Titans. Zatanna knows that some demons can employ that kind of mental control. But I have never tried anything like that."

"So technically you could be manipulating me and the others to think well of you through you empathic powers." Batman speculates out loud.

"I cannot say anything that would dispel your worry of that, unless you have dampeners to block me and besides I give my word that I am not, and even that is not worth much when coming from a half demon." Raven admits looking down at the table, knowing she was giving him every reason to call the League himself.

"I have faith in that you are not. So is there anything else?" He asks, Raven can feel the sincerity coming from his first statement, which is slightly comforting. "And how did you regain the shapeshifting?"

"Well when I first met Malchior and agreed to help him out, in return he taught me everything he knew in the field of magic, building on the small amount I was taught on Azerath. In this world it is called dark magic, sometimes chaos magic depending on who you ask, I didn't know what it was until I tried to use it, I almost killed a child when I realized I had no real control over it. I haven't really used it since." She replies. "My appearance was one of the reasons I travelled, to find a cure for it, which isn't easy when you think the League is still after you. But as it was I was…found, I guess you could say, by the Phantom Stranger who helped me for his own reasons."

"I won't claim to be an expert in the field of magic, but is control of it simply beyond you?" Batman asks as he mentally puts a note regarding the Stranger who never appeared anywhere without there being a greater purpose.

"I don't know if it is to me, but after the dragon I have not had any training in it, I have the knowledge but not the skill to wield it unless guided. I can tell you that chaos magic is amongst the most powerful of the schools of magic, but the problem is that the spells quickly becomes very complex when you want to use it for anything other than destruction. Like if I want to blow up a car with it, I only have to wave my hand and the proper focus, but I need to recite half a page worth of words if I want to turn on the light. Also I have been told I have a very good memory and I think I can still remember all the books the dragon taught me. A final mention of him because he also taught me how to absorb information from a hard medium like books or sheets of paper, I have learned since I can also do it to information banks in computers with a little modification. As you know I have been training myself in some forms of martial arts but I don't know at what level I am at. Finally there's my Soul-self; a manifestation of my soul that I can use for a variety of purposes, like teleportation. I can walk between dimensions in this fashion or between points in one, but it becomes harder with range and it is not instantaneous, basically I have to see the point I have to go to before moving. It works differently if I move between dimensions and within one, perhaps easiest to understand if you imagine two pieces of paper, each representing a dimension." She explains and Batman finishes typing to follow her example. "If I am standing point A in one dimension and I move to another, if I don't focus on a certain place within the other dimension I will end up in at point A in the second dimension. That's the easy part because to me the distance feels short. If I have to move a distance, call it point B in either, however I begin to feel the strain eventually." She finishes and remains quiet before realizing he though there was more. "That's all I know I can do."

"Then we are done here for tonight." Batman says, he would have to get the other information at a later date, while saving the document and disengaging the bubble. "Get some rest, we will need it tomorrow." Is the last thing he says to her before walking away, leaving Raven to stare at the table, feeling elated that he had not kicked her out, crushed at having explained her whole miserable story thought I had been kind of nice to let someone know it and somehow positive at that.


Authors notes: Just so you know I am aware of how extreme the comic version of Azerath was in regards to it's beliefs on violence, and that what I have written here is pretty 'far out' in comparison to it. But I have been wondering a lot about how exactly they managed it otherwise given how children are prone to rebellion and disobedience, so this is just my take on it. And just so we are clear; I do not approve of it in any way or form.

Also, just for those who think I may have overburdened her, all of those powers have been on the show at one time or another. Shapeshifting however was only seen when she scared the swearing out of Gizmo in the Crash episode (for those who haven't seen it; after he refuses to help she pulls back her hood revealing some monster underneath that's only seen by its shadows).

Anyways, filler issue; rate and review :D

Next: Sewers and Tamaranians