The team was relieved to see Raven return to her usual self. True, it wasn't if she was bouncing around the walls like Starfire but she was still at least in the same room as everyone, which was a marked improvement. Rune and Raven had patched up whatever had been rocky with them and became good friends at last, everyone could see the obvious tension between them had deflated like a popped balloon. Robin and Starfire were on the up and up, Robin had taken her ice skating on a rare date which had both hilarious and unfortunate results for the Tamaranean who had never tried the practice before and so ended the night with a very sore and bruised rear end. She spent the rest of the night soothing what she described as "grievous injuries to the posterior". Everyone had their own little days for cute date days, Cyborg and Robin went to a shooting range, Robin grinned as he punctured the targets perfectly for maximum points but his mouth fell open in shock as Cyborg destroyed all three with one shot having turned his arm into what could only could be called a sonic bazooka. Raven and Cyborg had discovered the fun of playing whack-a-mole with Beast Boy as the mole. Beast Boy tried to turn the fear on Robin by challenging him to a scary movie marathon, to which Raven gracefully uninvited herself. A pool party to which Rune and Raven had declined ended up with Beast Boy turning into an elephant and blasting them both until they were drenched, "bring the pool to you guys seeing as you wouldn't come to the pool" he had said. Raven's threat of merciless punishment and retaliation caught unintentionally in her throat as Rune peeled of his dripping shirt casually before chasing after Beast Boy. "Boys" she muttered, turning around to retreat to her room and a clean change of clothes. Raven wasn't really what anyone would call the pool party type, instead she took Rune to a place she hadn't shared with anyone, her herbal tea shop. The basement doubled as both the storeroom and a stage for dreary poetry reading. Raven had never invited any of the Titans here for fear of how they might think of her. So this night Raven took Rune downstairs and avoided the table for just one person that she had always sat at, taking a new one with a cushion for Rune. He looked confused until taking her lead and sitting cross legged. Raven raised two fingers to the woman at the counter and quickly, two cups of steaming herbal tea were brought to her. "Herbal tea?" Asked Rune.
"Yeah why, did you want one?" Raven asked, pulling both cups to her.
Rune stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say.
"I'm joking" she added, pushing one back to him.
Rune was quiet for a moment before an embarrassed smile cracked his features, Raven had just played him. She smiled thinly to herself under the cowl as a small amount of colour dusted her cheeks. Rune looked around at the clientele of the store, many were clad in shrunken black unflattering leather with make-up and excessive amounts piercings decorating glum expressions. One approached her, "you're Raven aren't you?" He said in a completely dread drone. "One of the Titans? Fighting to save the world too busy killing itself to thank you, I don't know why you bother, this world is a snake gorging itself on its own tail, I hate life, I can't wait until we all burn."
"I can see how you fit in here" Rune remarked.
"I'm here for the Gothic culture" Raven told him, "not the emo."
"There's a difference?" Rune asked.
Raven rolled her eyes, irritated by Rune's ignorance. "Yes, emos are a pathetic waste of talent that convince themselves that the world is not worth saving so that they don't have to try and make a difference." She pointed after the person who had spoken to her. "That was emo…" as she looked for an example to provide contrary evidence to the two cultures being identical, she heard a poem being read.
What have you wrought? A haze of betrayal as sentiments shudder. Once we shared innocence, wide-eyed and untainted, but your heart soured. A clouded pool of memories; pain follows memories, follows love, love left to die in a torrent of tears. But I remember you.
"And that" Raven told Rune, "is Gothic."
"I still don't quite see the difference" Rune replied.
"Which means you aren't Gothic" Raven told him. Rune paused awkwardly, once again unsure of what to say knowing that Raven had brought him somewhere that she'd taken no one else. "Don't worry" she said, raising her cup to her lips and taking a small swallow. "I still like you though."
Rune relaxed with a reassured smile and took a sip of his own, almost choking on it. "Jesus, they brew it strong down here."
"Yeah" agreed Raven taking another sip, totally unfazed, "it's just really expensive so I like to make mine last."
Raven bought herself another bag on the way out as they left the store. Winter had never been a noteworthy problem for Jump City but this year it had been particularly cold, the wind as they left the store made Rune shiver as Raven pulled her cloak closer into her. Rune noticed the motion and pulled off his coat, offering it her. "I don't need it" she told him, shaking her head in refusal of the gesture.
"I know" Rune replied simply, "but it's cold and you'll be better with it."
"You're cold too" she argued.
He shrugged, the coat still hanging in his outstretched hands. "The thought alone will warm me enough." Raven shivered again and relented, Rune whipped the coat around and draped it over her shoulders. Though she wouldn't admit it, the weight of the coat made her feel more comfortable nearly instantly, before she realised Rune's hands were still on either side of the collar, passing her face and lightly resting on her shoulders. Rune's eyes met hers evenly fro the arm's length away and she found herself mesmerised in them, unable to tear herself away. A familiar heat filled her cheeks and Raven knew it had nothing to do with the clothes she wore. Rune held her a moment more before dropping his hands, breaking the connection- and the moment- between them. Raven looked away, pretending to check the bottom of her shoe before Rune ventured to break the awkward silence filled by submerged thoughts. "We should get home" he said.
"Then let's go" she replied, the two of them walking down the street without saying another word.
Fucking idiot Rune cursed the stupid fucking face in the mirror looking back at him. He hadn't meant to do anything to trigger any sort of romantic feeling with Raven and yet he saw something stir in her eyes that he felt stirring in himself. Why do you have to kick up drama? Why can't you just make this easy and let her go? Instead you go and do some dumb shit like playing around as Prince fucking Charming. Rune flinched as in his anger he dragged his hand across a little quicker, causing the blade to bite into his neck. "Shit" he muttered as the white shaving cream began to stain red. Feeling his power wake, he looked at the red rune on his wrist as power flowed up his arm to seal the hole in his neck, his skin feeling blisteringly hot and incredibly itchy as it did so. He stroked the now smooth spot of skin, looking appreciative. He dried his face off with a towel and looked at his tired reflection, it had been a long day of trying not to fall for Raven. We're friends he told himself for the hundredth time, but it wasn't as if his mind would ever listen, being as stubborn as he was. He walked back into his room and stretched out to his limits, twisting and feeling his vertebra click down his spine, another degree of relief being achieved with each click. He hoped Robin would have some sort of mission for them soon, they had made absolutely no progress on either Red X or Slade and knowing that this power was out there… Rune was a constant reminder to himself that power wasn't always a blessing. He thought of Raven, he always thought of Raven. He sat on the edge of his bed, the moon lit up his room too brightly to sleep, and wondered if she thought of him. Because although he was truly sincere in his efforts not to fall for Raven, he was well aware that it was only making him fall for her more.
Raven had been quiet for nearly the rest of the entire evening, barely paying attention to anyone. Beast Boy had tried to prank her by sneaking behind her as a mosquito before shifting into a lion and roaring, to which she hadn't even flinched, such was her detachment. She had taken one spoonful of her dinner before declaring she was full and leaving. Rune shrugged to Starfire as she quizzed him with her eyes, he couldn't taste anything off with her cooking. At least he thought that was why she was quizzing him, he couldn't believe that Starfire would be the one to pick up on the awkward romantic miscommunications between himself and Raven, but then stranger things did frequently happen to this group of heroes. Rune avoided meeting her gaze for the rest of dinner as he put his head down and ate. Raven retreated to her room again and tried to lose herself in books but found she couldn't after reading the same line three times and still not taking in any information from the letters on the page. Forcing herself to bed, Raven still found herself unable to do the simple things, like sleep. She tossed and turned, adjusted her legs and pulled up or pushed back the sheets but nothing seemed to do the trick. Stranded without anything else, Raven found herself thinking of Rune, his body, the hardened muscles under his shirt and the way the water had glistened off his skin when he had removed it. Her breath caught in her chest as her hand drifted down between her legs. Raven's eyes snapped open as her fingertips brushed her womanhood, what was she doing? This was Rune, a guy she had absolutely zero romantic feelings for, not even a wish. I was only thinking of his body she reasoned, pure physical thoughts, just for relief, Beast Boy probably does it loads. She then wondered why she had to justify her own actions in her mind, it's my body, I don't need anyone's permission, I can do what I want. It doesn't mean anything.
Keep telling yourself that Passion whispered in reply but Raven had already fallen back under her power, her fingers stroking up and down, her first touch had not only been surprising by the fact she had touched herself, but also how wet she was. Her fingers made idle circles around her clitoris, brushing it to fire off spasms of sensation then again as soon as it had barely subsided. She could feel her nipples pushing against the fabric of her sleeping gown. She imagined his stomach muscles rippling as she lay beneath him, her fingers digging into his skin, willing him to go faster. He kissed her neck the way he had done so before, one of his hands creeping up to massage her aching breast, teasing and twisting at the aching bud of her nipple. She moaned involuntarily, dropping her fingers lower, entering herself. Her breath began to come only only in moans and gasps, as she sped up, as in her mind Rune sped up, she imagined the warmth of his skin against hers, the scent of his hair that fell down around his face, his groans as his muscles tightened, as he drove deeper and called out her name. Raven gave out a moan that almost escalated to a scream as she climaxed, her legs driving down into the bed to lift her hips up as the waves reverberated through her body. Her hand clamped over her mouth as her mind returned to her, forcing herself to take breaths through her nose. Thankfully, no one came to investigate the sound. Raven let out a sigh of relief, before slipping off her useless underpants and dropping them in her laundry basket before climbing back into bed, letting her dreams of Rune take her away into a sweet slumber.
Robin kissed Starfire goodnight sweetly as she left the room, heading for bed and the promise of sleep. He wasn't far from it himself, he could feel the bags under his eyes growing heavier behind the mask. Running a grid search of the Jump City power grid for any anomalies, the screen told him flatly in bold capital red letters that nothing was irregular. Where are you hiding Slade? He thought, no matter how bright Starfire lit him up inside, there would always be that masked demon inhabiting a corner of darkness inside him, the battle between the shadows and his soul had been fraught, more than once nearly swallowing Robin and his team but there had ever been victory. Robin thought back to his mentor, often consumed by the mental demons of what the worst of what Gotham had to offer were up to. Robin had never understood that feeling before striking out alone, now, he could only wonder how his mentor kept up the calm and composed persona of the other half of his double life, living in the mask allowed Robin to vent frequently, something he certainly could not do in a tuxedo as a billionaire's protégé. Robin checked his other searches, meteorological, gas systems, the subway system, anything to give him a clue about Slade. But there was nothing. Robin shook his head and ended the session, there was always tomorrow. And if they did not find Slade, he would find them waiting. He would find them ready. Robin stood from his seat and stretched, the muscles in his back particularly appreciate, and then began to walk for the exit. That's when the picture of Red X appeared on the screen, lighting the room up. "I hear you've been looking for me."
In another area of the city, in a building shielded from satellite surveillance, running off private generators and covered in surveillance systems, a megalomaniac sat. Not that he'd ever classify himself as such, it would be incorrect. There was no one like him. He consulted all the screens flashing at him in the blink of one eye, processing and organising the information in his head. Knowledge was power, and if his plan was to succeed, he would need to be very powerful, to be empowered even further. He looked down at his hand as his fingers unfurled and clenched back in again like the fall of a wave. To feel the power he had wielded before, to feel it trebled, the thought itself was almost too much to bear. An alert snapped him back to the present, his communication system was being hacked. What!? A voice in Slade's mind thundered. Who!? His security far outmatched the hacking capabilities of Cyborg, in the absurdly rare chance that they would even manage to somehow locate his system, which he could rehide among spam and junk coding in seconds. But this wasn't the Titans. Slade could only watch uselessly and clench his fist tighter as his security parted like a veil before a sword. An image of Red X appeared on his screen. "I hear you've been looking for me."
"Don't bother replying" Red X told the camera. "This communication is strictly one way, I can't hear you, see you or have this communication traced by you, so you might want to stop your threats and listen up. I have this little nest egg" he said, tossing up the gem tantalisingly to the camera, "and I'm looking to sell. I've come to the decision that your hands are my best choice to have the gem residing in; both for my health and finances. If you don't want it, I know another party who does, and you know exactly who I'm talking about, who would want this quite a bit. Tomorrow night, Jump City docks, Pier 41. I believe you know the place." He killed the transmission with a chuckle. He had just played both Jump City's finest heroes and its worst villain. He was bringing the unstoppable force straight towards the immovable object, all because he could. They didn't know but he was already wealthy beyond measure, he wasn't stealing for his finances, it was solely for the thrill. In Titans Tower, Robin growled and went back to the console to start searching for Red X. In his complex Slade slammed a fist down into the armrest of the seat, warping the metal. And in a penthouse suite of the most expensive hotel in Jump City, Red X put up his feet and laughed. There was a battle brewing for Jump City; Red X had never particularly liked the place and now he was going to soak the wood in gasoline before someone threw the match.