Chapter Thirteen: Tempers and Thread
The next morning was fairly quiet. The girls had left the tower before dawn to have a girl's day at the mall and Victor had gone into town with Garfield for some car parts.
Dick woke up early and decided to relieve some tension in the sparring room. He went in and began punching away at a large punching bag. Wally came in shortly after.
"Hey Dick, how hangs it?" he attempted to be cheerful, but the bitter disdain dripped off every word.
Dick stopped and turned to look at the flame haired man.
"Not bad, what are you up to?" He asked his friend.
"Not much, wonder if you care if I work out for a bit, stay loose?" He asked.
"No problem, go right ahead. Our equipment is free for you to use." He replied before going back to punching on his bag. Wally came over and jumped onto the treadmill right next to the bag Dick was punching at.
They exercised in silence for a short bit before Wally chose to speak again.
"Sucks about Rae huh? I mean, the whole her getting together with Garth thing."
"Id rather not talk about it actually." Dick replied sharply.
"Oh come on Dick, we're friends and all. We all know you have feelings for her, it puts us in the same boat." Wally pushed.
"No actually, it doesn't. You have feelings for Morrigana, a girl who doesn't exist. The girl I feel for is real." Dick said snidely. The comment hit a nerve in Wally. He got off the treadmill and walked over to stand next to Dick.
"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked gruffly.
"It means," Dick began as he turned to face Wally; "that you're wasting your time in Jump City."
The comment did more than Dick had intended, without a moments rational hesitation, Wally had swung a punch that landed squarely on Dick's jaw.
The red haired boy backed up, shocked at what he had just done. Dick was his friend, he had known him since they were children and yet he had punched him without a second thought. Anger took over the man. He felt he was entitled to Raven, not Dick.
Dick stood gaping at his friend. His mind was struggling to determine what had just happened, but his instincts were on alert, ready for any further punches.
"It's not like you have a chance anyway Boy Wonder. You ignored her and drove her away, right into my arms. I had her once; it won't take much to have her again." Wally said smugly, all rational thought leaving his body.
The time, it was Dick who was throwing the punch. The two boys got into a fist fight, which turned into a sparring match that was all a little too real. After about thirty minutes of beating each other to a pulp, they stopped to catch their breath, making a truce as they sat on opposite ends of the room. It was Dick who spoke first.
"This is stupid, why are we fighting like this? I mean, we both have just as much of a chance with her, and we have probably both hurt her in some way that is blowing that chance right away from us." He said sadly.
"No, neither of us have a chance now. Fucking Garth decided to jump into the picture." Wally replied gruffly.
Dick nodded in agreement. They boys stood up and shook hands as they began to walk to the door of the sparring room. Before they could reach it, the door flew open, leaving a smiling Atlantian standing in the doorway. Adrenaline was still pumping through the boy's veins. Wally walked right up to Aqualad and punched him square in the jaw. Without hesitation, Garth punched him back.
The two boys continued their brawl, very quickly dragging Dick into it as well. They fighting continued for twenty minutes before a green boy and a metal man walked by the open door to the sparring room and decided to intervene.
"That's enough!" Victor's voice roared, echoing off the walls of the sparring room as he pulled Wally and Garth apart. Garfield had come in and subdued Dick.
"What the hell do you think your doing?" Victor inquired.
"Whatever" Garth replied in a rather annoyed tone as he stomped out of the room and made his way to the elevator to go outside.
Wally took it upon himself to stare at the floor until Victor's eyes were on Dick, when he used the opportunity to sneak his way out of the room and up to his bedroom to clean up. Dick shrugged his shoulders and let out a deep sigh.
"I guess emotions got the better of us." He said simply.
Victor frowned and shook his head. He didn't try to stop the Boy Wonder when he wandered off to his bedroom.
Many hours passed and the girls returned home. Garfield informed them of the drama they had missed. Tara and Kori were shocked and nearly excited over it. They both saw it as something exciting for Raven. To have three men fighting over you, it was every woman's dream! Every woman but Raven apparently, Raven was instead appalled at the thought of it. She marched to her bedroom and dialed Jennifer's phone number to tell her the tale of the sparring room battle.
Jennifer was shocked when she heard about it. Wally was not the type to get into a fight, much less start one.
Their phone call was a short one. Raven took a moment to clear her head and went to sit on her window seat. She sat there, watching the sunset thinking about the three hormonal men in the tower. She didn't bother to analyze why they were fighting, she didn't really care. She couldn't get it out of her mind how immature they were being just because they didn't like each other. Garth didn't like Wally for hurting Raven, Wally didn't like Garth because he was seemingly with Raven, and Richard didn't like either of them right now because they were hurting his friends. She paused for a moment and thought of how difficult it must've been for the Boy Wonder to have to choose between her and Wally, two of his friends.
She stood up and walked aimlessly around her room, her eyes dancing over the various objects held there. They stopped on her sewing machine. She had already made her new costumes, but had yet to reveal them to anyone. She let her eyes dance on the extra fabric that had been leftover. Not quite enough to make another costume, but enough to play with. She had already used some of it to make a larger version of her old cape that was long enough to fit her newly elongated body. The remaining scraps weren't much, but they filled her mind with a twisted idea.
The boys were ideally fighting over her, so if they wanted her to be the center of their attention so much, she would give them a reason to pay attention to her. Jennifer had always told her that sex appeal sells, and she decided to use her womanly wiles to her advantage.
She pulled out a pencil and her sketchbook and quickly sketched a female figure. She then dressed the figure in a skimpy halter top and a pair of slashed low riding pants with boots and an arm band. It reminded her of an outfit she had seen in the window of a lingerie shop.
She quickly began cutting the material she would need. She shaped the halter top into the shape of a raven that would just barely cover her breasts, she immediately hemmed the edges before the fabric could fray and then she sewed thin straps onto it that would crisscross on her back to hold the top to her body.
For the pants she decided to cut a large piece out of the hip, which would expose the tender skin that lay there. The pants covered her legs well, but her pelvic area they left very little to the imagination. She sewed on two red orbs, like the ones she had used on her old capes. One to the front, and a second to the back, these orbs did the most of the covering in the pelvic area. The one in the back rested just at the top of her butt, allowing what little material flowed out from underneath it to cover some of the curves of her buttocks. The orb in the front covered a much more tender area, not letting anything be exposed, but covering about as much a one of her low riding thongs.
Once the outfit was completed, she slipped off all of her clothing and tried it on. It fit perfectly. A smug smile slipped across her face as she quickly undressed.
She walked over to her bed and slipped her naked body between the covers, quickly allowing sleep to come.
The following morning, there was no time for awkwardness, during the breakfast battle the sirens sounded, altering the team to trouble in the city.
"Titans Go!" the Boy Wonder could be heard saying and the team assembled and headed to town. Aqualad and Kid Flash close on their tails.
The team arrived downtown to see Cinderblock crashing through a local bank. The team made their appearance and began their battles. They were quickly seen to be no match for the monstrous rock creature.
The Titans were thrown against buildings, pummeled with brick and rock. Cinderblock lifted a large armored car into the air and sent it flying for Aqualad and Beast Boy. The boys raised their hands above their heads, certain they would be crushed by the large vehicle, but the armored car never touched down.
The boys looked up to see the armored car surrounded in a lavender energy, floating just above their heads. The car was tossed aside, leaving a young woman in a dark blue cape floating in the air above them.
"Raven!" Beast Boy exclaimed excited to see her.
Beast Boy's call brought Cinderblocks attention to the young empath. He let out a monstrous laugh and began charging at the girl. She floated back to the side to avoid his charge, not seeing him raise his arm and backhand her, flinging her through the air where she landed to the ground just behind Beast Boy and Aqualad.
The boys stood up and charged back into battle. Robin came over to see if the dark girl was alright.
"Raven! Are you ok?" he yelled as he rushed to her side.
Raven stood up, her eyes glowing a bright fuchsia.
"I'm fine." She said as she raised her arms out from underneath her cape. He reached up and unclasped the cape, letting it fall to the ground where she stood. As soon as the cape touched the ground, purple energy began to swirl around her, her body began to slowly rise into the air. Once she was level with Cinderblocks chest, she pushed her arms forward, the energy that has been swirling around her pushing itself into her body and out through her hands. The energy rushed through the air, piercing Cinderblock in the chest, knocking the massive titan down and unconscious.
Raven's body touched down on solid ground again as her teammates gathered close around her. The boys all dropped their jaws at her outfit, Terra's eyebrows shot up in surprised shock.
"Friend Raven! What a lovely outfit! You must make one as pretty for me, yes?" Starfire said excitedly as she approached Raven.
Raven blinked twice and her eyes returned to normal. She laughed gently and replied in a soft girlish voice.
"Sure Star, buy the material and help me design it." She smiled at her friend.
Cyborg stepped forward and picked up the cape that Raven had discarded. He walked over to her and placed it on her shoulders. As he did so, he whispered into her ear, 'I don't know what your trying to prove, but don't stoop to their level Rae.'
He walked away from the group and got in the T-Car, waiting for the others to follow suite. Raven watched him as he went. He was right, and she knew it, but the costume was a good idea at the time, or so she thought.
The team all returned to the tower, and changed into normal clothing again. Raven pulled black jeans and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt over her delicate form before joining her teammates in the living room.
Everyone was fairly quite about things. Garth sat glaring at Raven. The costume felt like a betrayal to him, and he was uncertain how to approach it. Wally chose to join Gar on the Gamestation, as to prevent himself from thinking of the costume. It wasn't like Rae or Ana to have worn something like that for little to no reason. He just didn't want to think about it.
Dick was lost in thought. As a leader, the costume was unacceptable and distracting. As a man in love, the costume was tempting and welcome.
Raven walked into the common area and went to stand at her usual spot at the window, looking out into the bay.
"Raven," Tara began. Raven turned to face her friend. "Your powers used to be black, but today they were purple. What caused that to happen?"
It was a very good question that her other friends had all seemingly overlooked. Raven smiled gently and cleared her throat.
"Remember when I told you about my battle with my father?" she looked at the group and saw everyone nod. "Well, I mentioned that my powers remained intact. Those are my powers. While I was on Azaroth, I learned that some of the power I possessed was my own. It was created at the time of my conception. Pure energy from my mother traveled into me throughout the pregnancy, preventing some of his power from becoming tainted. Their union was one of deception, and a pure heart could fight that. The power strengthened throughout my lifetime as I fought my internal battle against my father. The more I fought him, the less he was able to taint. That power is the pure untainted power that remained, it was that power that enabled me to destroy him." She explained.
Dick thought for a moment before speaking up; "But the first night you were back, your powers were black." He mentioned as everyone's eyes traveled to him in confusion.
Raven laughed, "Yes, I still will have black powers from time to time. My father may have been destroyed, but his blood still partially runs through my veins, so he cannot be completely shut out. Fear, hatred, anger, and spite often use some of the tainted powers that remain. The moment you mention was a defensive measure, fear more than likely played a small part in it." She said simply.
The group nodded understanding and accepting her story. They sat around talking for some time, Raven continuing to look out the window at the bay, lost in thought.
After a short bit, Dick excused himself to his bedroom and wandered off down the hall to the elevator. Raven noticed him turn to the elevator instead of his bedroom. She let about fifteen minutes pass before excusing herself to her room as well. She walked past her bedroom to the stairs. She floated up the staircase to the top and touched down at the door that led to the roof. She peered out the small window in the door to see the Boy Wonder standing at the ledge, watching the city, just as she expected him to be.
She walked out the door and strolled slowly to the ledge to stand next to him. He had heard her approach and chose not to look back at her, keeping his gaze where it was been.
They stood in an awkward silence for many moments before Raven finally spoke.
"I'm sorry Robin." Her girlish voice carried through the air.
"About what?" he asked innocently.
"The costume, I'm not certain what came over me. Hopefully it wont change your decision to have me on the team." She signed deeply, lowering her head.
"As a leader, I have to admit the costume is fairly unacceptable. But as your friend I can only wonder what would make you choose something as revealing as that. I only hope it has nothing to do with my actions from yesterday, although I feel fairly confident that it does." He replied.
She allowed herself to look over at him. He seemed worn, worried, and confused, a man of mystery with too much conflict to comprehend.
"I'm not certain if I am ready to fight with the team yet, I suppose I have some more self discovery to do. I will, however, have a new costume for the occasion; something that will hopefully match the approvals of my leader and teammates. I am sorry that any of you had to see that side of me." She said, turning to walk back to the door.
"And Richard," she stopped and called over her shoulder. He turned to look in her direction. "I may have not taken the time to understand what took place yesterday, but I do forgive you for any part you played. I can only hope that it will depart from your mind soon. You shouldn't need to stress over something so soon after my return. I don't want to start being a burden to you." She began walking to the door soon as her words were said.
Richard watched as she walked through the door and began down the stairs. Somehow, he felt eased about the subject. It amazed him how much such simple words as "I forgive you" could turn his world around.
Raven reached her bedroom door only to spot Garth leaning up against it. She stopped to look at him, an annoyed look in her eyes.
"So the rooftop is your bedroom now? That's interesting." He said bitterly.
"What concern is it of yours if I make certain that my leader forgives my earlier actions?" she replied.
He stood up and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, holding on to them a little tighter than necessary.
"You shouldn't be alone with him, or any man for that matter. You're dating me, not any of them. It's not right for you to be alone with them." He said gruffly.
Raven pushed him away from her. "I'm not dating you either, remember Garth. It was a con and nothing more. I'm done with that though, you can take your lies and leave. I will not be deceiving my friends any longer." She demanded as she shoved past him and went into her bedroom, locking the door behind her.
Garth slammed his fist on her bedroom door before turning around to notice Victor standing at the end of the hallway. He stood straight and glared at the metal man.
"I think its time you returned to the sea Garth." Victor said coldly.
The two boys stared one another down for five minutes, before Garth caved to the pressure, shook his head and went upstairs to gather his things.
No one but Victor saw him as he walked into the elevator and out of the tower, returning back to the sea.