Chapter 14 – Finishing Touch
The red hair of the Tamaranian princess swayed from side to side, knocking over coffee cups as her head drooped from exhaustion. She was determined to stay awake for as long as possible in case the sleeping Robin next to her needed anything, but between repairs on the tower and the simple stress of taking care of the Titans' incapacitated leader, she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer as her head bobbed up and down and her pupils glazed over. A light rapping on the door broke the lulling silence and made Starfire's heart snap with an adrenaline rush that threw her out of her chair. From outside, Raven had heard the crash and quickly swung the door open with a glowing hand full of dark energy at the ready.
"Starfire…" she said, lowering her arm and noticing the increasingly dark circles under her eyes and the blotched skin on her face. "Star… you look like you're going to collapse. You need rest."
"Oh, no friend Raven," she slurred, "I am quite alright. I believe I just need another dose of the *cough* caffeine."
"No, Starfire, you need to get some sleep. You're starting to get sick. I can watch Robin for a while."
The young Tamaranian coughed heavily, smiled weakly at Raven, and then hovered out the room without any more argument. Robin sat there silently, snoring softly even after Starfire's stumble out of her chair. Raven took her place and sat in the still warm seat to watch over the young boy wonder as he slept. She sighed, shaking her head at their leader.
"Can I talk to you about something?" she asked his unmoving face.
"X wants me to go to a dance on his world," she said, almost laughing. "At first, I blatantly turned him down, but… but not because I didn't to be with him. I mean, of course I want to…" She then realized how stupid it must've looked; her getting so worked up as she talked to herself in front of Robin as he slept.
"When he told me I didn't have to dance… that he just wanted me to see his world and meet some of his friends… I couldn't say no."
She paced around the room, looking at her feet. She laughed again.
"I said I would go to the dance. Only because that's where I'd meet everyone."
Robin stirred lightly, and Raven stopped moving, but he quickly resumed his low snore, setting Raven at ease.
"I have to wear a dress," she went on, "He said, 'something that brings out the real me', as if I know anything about dressing for a ball. I don't even know what to look for; whether or not it should be revealing, what kind of silly accessories should go with it…"
She took a deep breath and then let it out as her face fell into her hands.
"I don't even know what color it should be."
"Wh-wh," was the subtle response that came from Robin's lips.
Raven knelt down next to his face and whispered to him, "What did you say?"
"Your dress," he said, stretching his eyes open, "should be white."
"White?" she asked with a certain reservation. "Somehow, Robin, I don't think that being half demon and wearing white brings out the real me."
Robin shook his head and focused his eyes on the sorceress girl. "You say you're a demon..." he voiced, "but you've always looked much more like an angel to me."
"A… an angel?" Raven stammered, hiding red cheeks even though Robin couldn't clearly see them. "Y-you can't be serious. I'm not an angel. Not even close."
He chuckled through thick coughs and hacks as he propped himself up. "Even if you aren't, you'll still look good in white."
Raven smiled; she could still feel the warmth that filled her cheeks, but the embarrassment had left. She bent over Robin's bed and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead. He beamed serenely as his eyelids folded shut again; the image of Raven's red cheeks being the last thing he saw before his snoring returned, but he was calm; tranquil.
"White it is, then."
A dark, human figure crawled delicately on all fours, each and every step placed with the utmost care onto the old stone ceiling that it clung to. He wore primarily black, and a tight layer of his costume was wrapped around the majority of his face, only letting through a pair of brightly glowing eyes. Beneath him, several strange, ghost-like beings were pacing in an orderly fashion at very precise intervals from one another. They guarded the entrance to this ancient temple, but their eyes mainly focused on the entrance, which the dark intruder had already snuck past on the high ceiling above. The dim, torch lit hallways concealed much of the ceiling, making the job easier, but the dark intruder was no less careful for it as he reach a spot above an enormous wooden door where two of the faceless, ghastly guards stood with old, but very sharp looking axes.
Directly above them, the dark being climbed from the ceiling to the wall, and he slowly crawled down to one of the guards. With his face only inches away from the back of the guard's head, he pulled a long, blackened knife from his waist and methodically moved it toward the neck, careful to watch the other guard's movements the entire time. Before even a gasp of breath could be made, the sentry's throat had been slit. The other guard turned with spear ready, but the same knife had already been thrust into his chest. Both of the ghoul-like guards burst into clouds of dust.
The dark figure's veil mechanically slid into the rest of his helmet as he burst through the wooden doors where over a dozen of the same monstrous soldiers stood. A flash of energy surrounded him, discarding the shadow armor, and Mega Man X stood confidently with his gleaming blue shell tinted by the red torch light.
"Showtime," slipped from his mouth, and his sacred sword pointed at the crowd of demonic soldiers.
A wave of six rushed him in a half circle, and X slid beneath the hail of spears and sheared a pair of shins off; stabbing the same soldier before he hit the ground and shriveled into sand. Another ghoul threw his spear at X's face, but the Hunter arched backward and somersaulted just enough to see the projectile stab another in the neck. Without a weapon, a third ghoul was easily sliced apart.
"Urgh!" X growled as a spear scratched through the surface of his arm. He pulled it out of the owner's hands and impaled both he and another. Before they crumbled into ashes, the sixth spearman was clubbed into the wall by X's creative use of a baseball bat, where a distinct, humanoid dusting was left. Mega Man then turned to face the remaining six, ignoring the blood coming from his arm. He dropped the spear and tightly gripped his sword in his hands as one of them stepped forward, dropping a tattered cloak and brandishing six, ghastly arms that each held a thick saber with three vicious points on their ends. The faceless enemy began to spin the blades in all six hands, making a wall of seemingly impenetrable propellers.
"Oh, for the love of…" X's sword slipped back into its sheath and he rolled his eyes at the plethora of unnecessary dramatics. His hand retracted into his arm, and he radiated with power for a few moments before his Buster blew the six-armed beast into even less dust than the others. The last five looked at each other, then made a very swift exit, but they vanished along with the entire setting as soon as X uttered, "End program."
The pretense that X had created to train in dissolved into the very plain walls of the holodeck, and he shrugged with discontent. He had discovered that the shadow armor, with a few minor modifications at least, was still useful, but his other intent for the training program hadn't gone at all as he had hoped. He glared at his sword, and at the small golden triangles engraved into the bottom of the blade. There had been no voices, no miraculous powers. Nothing at all to indicate the presence that Raven had very clearly heard, let alone what little he himself had sensed from it in the past.
X traveled back to his room and tossed the sword on the bottom of an unused bunk bed. X slept in his capsule across the room, so the human bed was instead used as a sort of table top storage space. He sat down next to his sword and inspected his arm. It was bleeding, but very mildly. The wound was fairly shallow, and X took a gray, silver armband from a trunk underneath the bed that he firmly clasped around his arm. It clicked, and a small red bulb flashed on and off as long as it was attached. He then turned to his leg. The armored boot no longer had the cracks and bends that had been inflicted upon it, and only a small discoloration remained. It still irritated him a bit, but the injury was tolerable now without a crutch.
Then it suddenly dawned on him while he tended to his leg. His hand was itching. It had been itching for several minutes, and the back of his right hand, normally a very dark blue like the rest of his hands, looked stained and splotched by a lighter color. He rubbed at it, making no change, but his hand still tingled with whatever was happening to it. X stood up, instinctively heading for the medical station, but he didn't make it as far as his own door before he stopped. His eyes searched for whatever it was that had latched on to his mind. It didn't take long for him to be drawn to the golden triangles tinting the area around the bed. His sword was glowing of its own accord. He reached for the hilt, but before his hand could even grasp it, he heard a strange whisper.
…will obey me…I…master…
He could only hear bits and fragments of what was being said, but it sounded like a second voice was responding to the first.
…I don't…no one's servant…
The second voice sounded almost defiant of the first. The initial voice then attacked with rage.
…I command…greatest power…will obey…will release me!
…no...will do…I want to do…stay there forever…all I care…
A loud scream then came from the first voice. A scream of rage, hate, and desperation. The second voice said nothing. X could no longer sense the second presence at all. The second voice, whatever it had done, had obviously refused to obey the first and had left the conversation, but the first; the first was still there, writhing, agonized in his own pitiful hate and obsession. It was like X could sense this person's spirit in all of its hateful blackness. Then, the remaining voice seemed to be choking, squeezing for life, but it got none. The hate filled voice was dead.
"Cyborg, I really appreciate you coming with me. I'm not sure I could survive in the mall on my own."
He gave his best to smile back at Raven as they attempted to blend in at the Jump City mega mall. It was always crowded with people from open to close, so it was generally an unwelcome place for Raven at any time, but she made an exception for the white dress that she was searching for.
Raven knew that some companionship and time away from the tower might help Cyborg to feel better. He had been slowly improving over the past few days, and she had hope that his morale would eventually come back to him. She strove to pull out as much of the old Cyborg as she could.
"Hey Cy," Raven said, pushing cheerfulness as much as she could, "remember when Beast Boy morphed into an eagle, and then he saw the new Gamestation through the Electronic Boutique window and crashed right into it?"
"Heh. Yeah, that was great," he said, making considerable efforts of his own to be pleasant.
Raven thought hard for some other good memory. "And, um… remember when…"
"Rae, it's alright, you don't need to try so hard. I just need some time."
"Sorry," she said.
"No, I appreciate it," returned Cyborg. "Just be yourself, and I'm sure that'll make me feel better. Oh, hey, there's another store with prom dresses."
She glanced at the crowds of teenage girls toying with frilly, pink gowns and brightly colored mini-skirts. It was obvious that she wasn't the only one searching for the right dress. Raven scowled at the prissy show of giddiness that the shopping girls displayed, and she felt a natural repulsion for them that made her back away.
"Come on, Rae," encouraged Cyborg with a bit of a grin, "I'll fend them off for you."
The dark sorceress breathed deeply and removed the hood from her head. She walked over the threshold and cringed as a pair of blondes skated past her with overwhelming excitement at their matching, hideously bright lime green gowns. Raven simply cringed in return as her dark robe and pale skin clashed more and more the further she dared to venture into the racks of formal dresses. She could start to feel the eyes of other girls on the back of her head.
"I feel… like an idiot," she mumbled as she quickly shuffled through every single one of the colored dresses. "Damn it, don't they have a single white one here?" she snarled, turning to Cyborg, but she then realized that Cyborg looked like even more of a misfit than she did. He stood like a deer in headlights in the middle of the store, resembling a very large, frightened male manikin.
Taking a wider look of the store, she realized that there wasn't a single white dress left in it, nor was there anything even close to what she would consider acceptable wear for her.
"Come on, Cy, let's get out of here before we get stared at to death."
"No argument there," Cyborg said nervously, "This place gives me the willies."
Raven pulled her hood back on and agreed. "Yeah, I thought I was going to throw up from all the pink," she said.
"What if we don't find anything in the other stores, Rae?" Cyborg asked, hurrying away from the gazes of everyone in the store.
"Then we'll look somewhere else."
They walked through the rest of the mall, avoiding the storms of people as best as a hulking half machine could. It wasn't as though the people of Jump City had never seen the Teen Titans before, but their reputation as heroes never seemed to expire, not to mention that Raven's abhorrence for popular fashion and Cyborg's soaring figure tended to catch any eye. Just as the heightened emotions of seeing them never dulled, the dread of being watched so constantly under the public eye rarely faded either. Raven and Cyborg, as well as the other Titans (save Beast Boy, who actually relished in the popularity) had learned to adapt to their own version of fame; being able to tolerate stares, questions, and even public criticism, but the uneasiness was always there.
After torturing themselves through a couple of other clothing stores without success, Raven and Cyborg were ready to leave, but one last department store looked hopeful.
"The Black and White Boutique," Cyborg read.
"Hmm. It actually doesn't look too terrible," Raven said. "Is it new?"
Cyborg shrugged. "Must be. Haven't seen it before."
The two of them walked in, and the sight was astonishing. Clothes of every size and shape in both black and white mixed among the entire store. Half of the store was painted black, and half of it was white, but not solidly cut half and half. The swirls and designs of absolute color and the lack thereof mixed together were surprisingly attractive to both Titans.
"Can I help you with something?" asked a tall woman of a fierce stature, wearing a straight, ankle length dress that had a hypnotizing swirl of black and white centering at her considerably sized chest. The woman's silver hair was tied up tightly in a bun that had each a black and white rod to hold it in place. Her thick, muscular arms caught the attention of both of them, especially Cyborg once his eyes were drawn away from her chest by Raven's stiff elbow.
"Is… something wrong?" she asked, not getting any response from either Titan as they realized that she was not wearing heels and yet managed to stand taller than even Cyborg.
"I was… uh… looking for a white dress."
"Pure white?" she asked plainly with her neck bent at quite an angle to look Raven in the face.
"Yes. That's right," Raven answered.
The woman approached Raven and looked her up and down. She pulled Raven's hood off and turned her cheek to one side, looking at her hair, her neck; anything that seemed to catch her interest. She then took Raven's arms and held them out sideways while she spun around the dark sorceress, taking note of her shape. While she was doing this, Raven noticed a very strange thing about this attendant. She had long ears, but not like any kind of animal ears. These were like any other human ear, except that they went very far back and came to a sharp point, making them look elf like.
The woman finally put Raven's arms back to her sides as she knelt down and said "I need to see your legs."
"Uh… my legs?" asked a very confused Raven.
"Yes, that's right," she said.
Reluctantly, Raven pulled her robe open, exposing her bare legs in the outfit that resembled a bathing suit.
"You have strong legs," the pointy eared woman said kindly, "legs that are worth… showing off."
She smiled at Raven, who didn't know what expression to wear in return.
"Please, come with me," she said. "I think I have something that you will like very much."
The tall woman led Raven into the back where the changing rooms were, and came out shortly after while the dark sorceress tried on the outfit that she was given. Cyborg waited there, feeling a little bit more comfortable as he was the only one aside from the attendant in the black and white store, but his nerves tensed as the woman approached.
As a bead of sweat dropped down his forehead, he repeated to himself in his mind over and over, "don't look at her chest, don't look at her chest, don't look at her chest."
"You," she said very firmly, "you are her friend?"
"Y-yes ma'am," he stammered.
Her eyes narrowed with a seriousness that came from much more than a fashion store clerk. "You must do your best to take care of her when you are near," she demanded. "She is more important than you know."
Cyborg scratched his head and replied, "Uh, yeah, um… I will."
She raised an eyebrow at him, making him shrink down from the strength of her gaze.
"And do learn to not stare at a woman's chest when they are much stronger than you."
A red flush of heat filled the organic half of his face, but he could have sworn that even the metal parts were rose colored. He was very curious about her, but he didn't dare ask her a thing while he waited.
After a few moments of awkwardness, Raven inched out from the changing rooms. Her head poked around the corner, careful not to show what she was wearing. She bit her lip hard and breathed very deeply. She thought of X; what he meant to her; how important this was for the both of them, and it gave her courage. Raven slowly stepped out, glowing in radiant white. The dress shimmered in the light, making every movement look truly angelic as the layers of smooth, reflective fabric contoured to her strong figure. Her arms, gloved in silky white almost to her shoulders, hung anxiously at her sides. The thick white straps that covered her breasts curved up and crossed in front of her neck before looping around just beneath her lavender hair. The dress clung tightly enough around her waist to show curvaceous, yet frail hips and a well kept midsection, but from her thighs down, the dress was slit open on both sides, revealing a pair of strong, alluring legs that were smooth to the touch, and a silk white pair of low heels.
"So," asked a shy voice that did not match the portrait of angel that it was coming from, "do I look alright?"
Cyborg didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. His just stood there, gaping with his mouth wide open.
"He says that you look astounding," said the giant woman from behind the counter.
"I… I think I like it, too," said Raven, glancing into a mirror and admiring the way it fit on her. "I don't have any experience with this, but… I think that this is the one."
A loud crash came from behind them as one of the clothes racks collapsed. A pair as mismatched at the two Titans were checking out the store in their own way; with violence.
"Look at this garbage," said the smaller, pink-haired girl with a hulking, red haired monster of a man following behind her, "nobody in their right mind would wear anything this gothic." She then glanced at the dark sorceress and laughed. "Oh, sorry Rae Rae, didn't see you there," she said sarcastically. Her dark purple outfit and pale skin were comparable to Raven's, but her demeanor was far more confrontational.
"Get out of here, Jynx, and take Mammoth and any of your other Hive buddies with you," Raven snapped at them, but the two of them didn't flinch at her outburst.
"Oh, calm down Raven, we're just shopping." She eyed Raven up and down with a teasing smirk on her face. "Cute dress. Although, you don't look half as threatening. Still plenty ugly though."
Raven was ready to lash out at the insult, but Cyborg squeezed her shoulder tightly to convince her to show a little restraint. She clenched her fists furiously enough to make the color of her knuckles match the dress she wore and she milled her teeth together, but her self-control only encouraged Jynx to increase her taunts.
"Hey there, Cy, sweetie," Jynx flirted. "You're not thinking of taking her to a formal event, are you, hun? You know she'll find some way to lose her temper and ruin everything like she usually does."
Cyborg squeezed harder. "It's not worth it, Rae. Just ignore them."
But ignoring them was difficult to do with Mammoth knocking over racks of clothing and ripping them apart while he laughed heartily about it.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the store's tall attendant told Mammoth face to face. The hulking menace stared straight at her, blowing hot breath on her from his nostrils, but the woman wasn't frightened of Mammoth, no matter how much she should have been.
"Get outta my way, lady," Mammoth barked at her, but as he reached up to shove her aside, the large woman locked three of his fingers in her palm and twisted them down until he buckled to the ground with a yelp of pain. She then yanked on his arm, pulling the enormous Hive student to his feet with a single hand, and she drove her foot into his back, sending him careening through a thick layer of glass before crashing into the middle of the mall's walkway. People screamed; some dropping their bags and others freezing with shock at a five hundred pound man being thrown clear through a very dense window.
The woman turned to Jynx, but she was too large a target to dodge the bolts of energy emanating from the little mage's hands that knocked her solidly into a wall. The side of the store buckled, and the woman was covered in plaster, unmoving.
"Can't avoid a fight, now!" shouted Cyborg, rushing out to handle Mammoth before he could regain his composure, and Raven was left with Jynx.
"Stupid Titan, I'm gonna tear you and your stupid dress to pieces!" Jynx screamed, aiming waves of energy in Raven's directions.
Raven dodged the blasts swiftly as she flew from side to side, but she was restricted by the low ceiling and was struck hard in the shoulder, just missing her silky gloves and leaving a black and red burn that started to bleed. She screamed at Jynx, flying through the air as she caught the startled girl around the waist and drove the battle out into the open, multi-story mall. Most of the civilians had scattered, but a few stupid tourist types had stayed at a distance with cheap, yellow disposable cameras. Cyborg was doing his best to contain Mammoth's gargantuan size from spilling out into the remaining people, but Raven's anger pushed her to a rage where she didn't really think about or care who was around as long as she could give Jynx a beating she would not soon forget.
The two girls grappled on the floor, punching and elbowing each other without the safe distance to throw energy beams, but Raven could still move things telepathically. She animated a thick black trash bin and clubbed Jynx's back as they held each other by the wrists. Jynx pulled back and her hands shook as she threw two fierce waves of energy; the first at the trash can, which exploded into pieces, and the second at Raven, who barely managed to phase into the ground to avoid being struck.
When Raven rose up from the floor in a mist of black fog, she had intended to take Jynx by surprise, but as soon as her vision focused, she only saw a blur of dark brown wood and metal impacting her chest and knocking her into another store window, leaving a human frame of cracks and breaks. She only narrowly flew up in time to avoid the same chair legs being lodged into her by Jynx's vigorous throw.
"Come on, Raven, is that the best you can do?!" Jynx sneered between breaths, almost laughing.
"You think this is fun?" she snorted as she grabbed Jynx by the two pink hair extensions that jutted up from her head.
Jynx squealed and began tugging on Raven's shorter locks that hung down at the sides of her face. The pulling war went back and forth, and bits of hair got ripped out here and there. Mammoth and Cyborg, who had been wrestling to the side, saw the tug of war, looked at each other, and decided that watching was more entertaining than their petty brawl.
The girls continued their fight, neither of them at their fullest strength or with their superior powers, but instead with pure feminine animosity. As soon as Raven's arm crossed in front of Jynx's face, the former Hive student bit hard into it, causing Raven to release her other grip on Jynx's locks. Caught off guard, Raven couldn't stop a sharp set of fingernails from scraping across her face and drawing blood. The dark sorceress returned with a solid fist across Jynx's face that collapsed her to the floor, but the pink haired teen kicked at Raven's legs and caught the front half of her silk white dress with the sharp heel of her shoes. The front fold of her dress was torn over half way from one knee to the other.
"Uh-oh," grunted Mammoth worriedly.
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed, "This is gonna be ugly."
The enormous tear hung part of the dress at Raven's feet. Her legs shook. She felt like she was going to throw up, but she downed the feeling with unbridled anger.
"My dress," she gasped, "YOU RIPPED MY DRESS!" she shrieked as she tackled the pink haired girl to the floor with pure loathing. She held her arms down so tightly that Jynx couldn't budge them with all of her might. White lightning started to sparkle in Raven's eyes, and Jynx trembled beneath the dark sorceress with her eyes closed. She was expecting her body to be torn apart, or broken pieces of glass to perforate her, but what she wasn't anticipating was Raven's forehead crashing down on her face and causing a break that shocked her entire body.
"You bitch! You God damn bitch! You broke my nose!" Jynx wailed in agony, with tears dropping down into her own blood.
Raven went for a second blow to Jynx's face, but a pair of metal talons grabbed them by their waists and hoisted them off the ground, placing them both inches away from the squinty eyed, obnoxious Gizmo. He looked more than irate, crossing his arms in midair as the other two steel appendages from his new backpack held him aloft.
"What in the slimy scuzballs are you snot buckets doing?" He demanded of them both, and the two girls began spouting out blames and insults at one another, which Gizmo seemed to have no patience for.
"Quit your whining, Jynx," he snapped at his fellow Hive graduate, "It's not even twisted. It'll be fine in a week or two."
He then turned to the furious Raven. "If you go get changed quick before the police come, I can fix your stupid dress, good as new."
Raven was puzzled. He had no reason to help any of the Titans, nor did he have any reason to snap at Jynx, one of his teammates and supposedly his friend, but Raven looked at her torn dress and decided that it would be best to trust him under these strange circumstances.
Raven and Cyborg rushed into the boutique and saw the attendant pulling herself out of the rubble.
"Are you alright?" the beaten sorceress asked her as the tall woman brushed herself off.
"Yes, I am fine, thank you."
"That was some move you pulled on Mammoth at the beginning," Cyborg admitted, and she bowed lightly at the praise.
"I am well trained," she said simply, and then she saw the wide tear at Raven's feet. "Oh my… your dress…"
"I can get it fixed," she returned, using her telekinesis to help pick up the overturned clothing racks.
"Very well," she smiled, "If you still want it, then you may take it, free of charge."
Raven wanted to argue, but the tall woman told her that it was hers in exchange for helping fend off Mammoth and Jynx.
"Thank you so much," Raven said, and she hurried to change her clothing. When she returned, she saw the three Hive students arguing vehemently outside the shop, or rather she saw Gizmo arguing with Mammoth while Jynx held a thick wad of tissues under her nose. Shortly thereafter, Jynx hopped up on Mammoth's shoulders and they promptly left the mall through an exit that they forcefully made themselves through a solid wall, while Gizmo scurried into the store on his own legs.
"Quick! Gimmie the dress before the feds get here!" said his high pitched, scratchy voice.
He snatched it from Raven's hands and pulled out a small contraption shaped like a stapler. For the extremely wide rip, he bunched up the torn sides in the device and flipped a switch on the back. Raven peered at it working, and it looked as though it was shredding the edges of the dress and re-sewing them without a mark. As he slowly pulled the fabric out, it looked as though it had never been frayed in the first place. As soon as it was finished, he tossed it back in her arms and ran for the door, but Raven stopped him at the doors.
"Gizmo, I don't understand," Raven said astonished. "Why are you helping me?"
"Lemme go!" he squirmed, but the police force had already arrived for him. Two of the masked guards in thick armor grabbed him by the arms and pulled him off the ground. A third approached Raven and Cyborg. The protective masks that they wore hid any kind of expression, making the normally dark Raven look quite cheerful in comparison.
"We heard reports that there were two of the former Hive academy members here," he said through a mechanical mouthpiece. "Did the other escape?"
"No, wait! Gizmo wasn't involved with this," Raven entreated him. "It was Mammoth and Jynx that wrecked the store."
"Very well," returned the guard tonelessly, "but Gizmo is still a convicted felon, and part of a criminal syndicate. He'll have to be taken into custody."
"But, he…" Raven searched quickly for a solution, but the only one that came to her made her cringe. "Gizmo is… being dealt with by the Titans. We're in the process of, uh… reforming him."
Even though the protective headgear blocked any emotion from them, all three of the guards were clearly dumbstruck. Their leader signaled to the other two to drop their captive, which they did slowly and reluctantly as Cyborg leaned in and whispered in Raven's ear.
"You sure you know what you're doing?"
Raven groaned. "No."
"This is highly irregular, but…" a sigh mechanically sounded from the inside of his helmet. "Alright, I'll let it slide this time, but if he makes one slip up…"
"I understand."
"Fine then," he said sternly. "Let's go, men."
They hurried out the broken mall walls in hopes of catching the other two, and Gizmo was left with Raven. The two looked at each other; both of them completely dumfounded.
"You didn't have to do that y'know," Gizmo snapped. "I coulda handled them myself."
"Oh, really?" Raven huffed. "Nice to see that you're grateful that I completely cleaned your slate." She glared at him darkly. "Maybe I should just call those soldiers back in?"
"No, no!" he wailed. "I'll be good! I promise!"
"Good, now get out of here before I change my mind."
His metal legs propped him up and launched him forward at much faster speeds than his little legs could carry him, and with a quick climb up to the ceiling using the artificial limbs, Gizmo broke a ceiling window and crawled out of sight.
"I hope I just did the right thing," Raven said to herself. She turned to see the store clerk with a fascinated smile managing to make its way across her face. Raven raised an eyebrow in return, mystified at the giant woman's expression.
"Well, um… thank you so much for the dress. I really like it."
The woman continued to smile warmly, as if she were deep in thought at the dark sorceress girl in front of her. She then took her hand and reached behind one of her long, pointed ears, pulling a small, jeweled silver clip in the shape of three triangles together to form a pyramid, almost exactly like the golden ones on X's sword.
"I would like you to have this," the tall woman told her kindly as she placed it just behind Raven's temple with it parallel to her ear.
"Wait, I… I can't accept this."
"Please do," she insisted. "It belonged to a very good person before me, and I think that it now belongs to another very good person."
Raven clasped it in her hands and blushed warmly. "Thank you," she said, and she kept it secured tightly in her dark lavender hair as she left the Black and White Boutique with Cyborg and a shopping bag in tow.
"We're definitely gonna have go back there some time," said Cyborg.
"Yeah," Raven answered, looking back to the clothing store. "To think, I have reason to come back to the… mall… now…?"
Cyborg turned to see what had made Raven's face turn as white as one half of the Black and White Boutique, but it was the clothing store itself that froze her in place with mouth agape. In place of the store, the broken glass, all the clothing, and even the mighty, towering attendant, there were blank plaster walls, no lights, and a closed gate. Not even the remnants of battle remained, with the exception of the burns on Raven's arm.
"Cy… are you seeing this?"
"No, I'm not seeing anything," he replied, "but that's the problem! Where'd it all go?"
Raven felt the strings of her bag pulling down gently with the force of gravity. She felt the side of her head, and the ornamented clip was still there.
"I don't know," she whispered hesitantly, "but whatever it was… I think it was for me."
Starfire helped to bandage Raven's wounds back at the tower, and the sorceress said her temporary goodbyes to everyone. She told everyone about the run in with Mammoth and Jynx, and even how Gizmo was so willing to help her, but both Raven and Cyborg were careful to conceal the details of the store. Neither of them were very sure of what happened, but they felt inside themselves that no harm would come of not divulging the events that had transpired. Cyborg also took additional comfort in being able to conceal his interactions with the giant, intimidating, yet kind woman who tended to the store, whoever she was.
Later, in front of the bright silver wings of the Dreamweaver on the edge of Titan's island, all of the Titans had gathered to give both X and Raven a proper send off for their trip.
"Friend X, friend Raven," beamed Starfire, having recovered a bit of her strength, "I hope you will have a wonderful time on your trip and your ceremonial ball," she went on. "For the trip, I have baked you a special batch of my blorthog pie!"
She held out a silver tin that contained a putrid smelling, slimy, worm like concoction that revolted even X's high tolerance.
"Well…thank you, Star," X said insincerely, but as kindly as he could while he held Starfire's pie at an arm's length.
"Cy," began Raven to the hulking tin man, "I really appreciate… well, everything you've done for me. Thank you." She hopped up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his large frame, and he gently hugged her in return.
X approached Robin, still trapped in his wheelchair but well enough to see them off.
"I'm worried, Robin. Are you sure you'll be able to hold up without either of us around?"
"Don't worry," he reassured the blue armored reploid, "we always manage somehow."
Raven then came to Beast Boy, who was grinning ridiculously. He held his arms out, persisting with his childish, innocent looking smile.
"So… I suppose you're looking for a hug?" she said dryly with a touch of revulsion.
Beast Boy's cheerfulness was sucked off his face and dropped deep in his stomach. His smile vanished and his outstretched arms contracted uncomfortably.
"Well, I just thought that… oh, never mind," he sulked away, but the normally reclusive sorceress leapt around the changeling and squeezed him tightly, and he returned the friendly embrace.
"See? I'm not as dark and gloomy as you might think," she teased, and she left Beast Boy feeling a little baffled but remarkably happy.
Raven took one of her suitcases and X's free arm around her own, and as they boarded the Dreamweaver, their friends all waved energetically until the ship rose into the sky and out of sight. After they passed through the fiery shell protecting the planet and the Earth shrank to nothing more than the size of a marble, Raven and Mega Man X were alone together amongst the stars.