Terra had been awake for a few hours now, but couldn't get out of bed, even though it was already noon and she was starving. She knew that if she left the room she would have to face them. She felt like a complete fool after what happened last night. She had promised Raven to not cause her any more trouble, just to have Raven catch her groping her drunken husband. She had fallen that low, making out with a passed out drunk. And there was no doubt that the others already knew what happened. Raven probably told them about how "evil Terra" raped her unconscious husband. And truth be told, Terra was in no mood to face them. She didn't know what to do. Hiding in the room indefinitely was not an option. For one thing she was getting very hungry.
Terra wiped away a tear that had streamed down her cheek. It wasn't fair, why did he choose Raven? No matter what the others said Raven hadn't changed. She was still the stiff, aloof, icy and distant witch they had all grown to not love. She kept a close eye on them at the party. While Beast Boy was publicly affectionate with her, she never returned the favor. Azarath was definitely Raven's kind of town, she thought to herself, cold and unfriendly. The guests at the party were no different; they were all cold and stiff. She wondered if Raven even really loved him.
Terra felt sorry for Beast Boy, he was married to Raven for only a few weeks and she had already driven him to the bottle. If it wasn't for that blasted wedding curse she could probably steal him from her. Closing her eyes she recalled how much she had enjoyed kissing him. That damn curse! If she got him to leave Raven he would die, and if she killed Raven he would hate her forever. If only that damn gang banger had aimed a little higher Beast Boy would probably be sleeping in her bed tonight.
There was a loud knock on the door. Terra flinched. She had finally come to confront her. Right there and then she decided to stand her ground.
"What do you want Raven? Maybe if you made love to him he might not drink so much!" She yelled.
"Yo Terra, it's me, Cyborg. May I come in?"
Terra crawled out of her bed and opened the door. Cyborg entered the room cautiously.
"You OK, girl? What happened last night?"
"Didn't she tell you?" she pouted.
"No man, she didn't. They left early this morning. So what happened?"
Terra quickly recounted the previous evening's events to Cyborg, who looked mildly stunned after she was done.
"Terra, you gotta let it go. The grass stain's with Raven now, permanently. And get it out of your head that he's unhappy with her. I know he's happy. You might think she's some kind of ice queen, but from what little he's shared with me, she's anything but."
Terra looked at him with disgust. "What did he say? Please don't tell me that he said she's the world 's greatest lover."
Cyborg chuckled. "Nah, he's too private to share that sort of stuff. He just told me that being married to her has been better than anything he hoped for."
Terra sighed. "I'm sorry Cy, but I just can't stop thinking about him. I know it's lame and just goes to show what a loser I am, but I can't help it."
He patted her on the shoulder.
"You know what you need? You need a friend and I know those have been in short supply lately."
She nodded sadly.
"Why don't you get dressed and swing by my room when you're done. I'll buy you lunch."
She giggled softly. "Sure, why not. I guess I owe them an apology, don't I?"
"Yeah, but don't sweat it. They're not even angry with you. Raven's even feeling sorry for you."
"That's a new low, even for me." She sighed, before quickly changing the subject. "Ok, get out of here, unless you want to watch me get dressed."
"Oooh! Is that an offer?" he teased her.
"Just get out." She laughed as she shoved him out the door.
-( - )-
Best Boy was bored out of his mind. He had never been in a room with so many blowhards, and he attended a few of the mayor's charity balls in Jump City. He was chatted up by every old crone in the room, while Raven hobnobbed with the University faculty members and non-Matriarchal benefactors. What made his mixing with the crowd especially dull was that no one was curious in the least about him. All they did was ask him about Raven: how had they met, how did he like being married to her, what was she like, etc. No one even asked him why he was green, or how he felt about the honor of wearing a white cassock. Just as he thought he was about to go insane Ria stepped up to the podium and turned on the microphone.
"Welcome everyone and thanks for coming to the launch of the Raven Roth election campaign. This is a time of change for Azarath and we are fortunate to have Raven and Garfield Roth here to spearhead this long overdue change. So without any further ado I present to you Mrs. And Mr. Raven Roth."
The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. With an amused look in his eyes Beast Boy whispered into Raven's ear.
"Mr. Raven Roth? That kind of rolls off the tongue, huh?"
She squeezed his hand tight. "We have our work cut out for us." She replied.
"I can handle being Garfield Roth, but Mr. Raven Roth?" he joked back. "I guess I'll have to learn to like being barefoot and in the kitchen."
"You've done that for years back at the Tower and in your boxers too."
"Well, I can't do the pregnant part, you're stuck with that." He continued teasing her as she released his hand and stepped up to the microphone.
Raven stared out at the sea of eager faces. She sighed softly to compose herself before starting.
"Thank you for coming. After being in exile on Earth I was happy to return home to my beloved Azarath. What surprised me the most upon my return was the polarization I found and the aggressive grab for power by the Matriarchs. The Mayor's office belongs to the people and I want to return it to the people of Azarath. It is an insult to Azarathians that a puppet sits at the Mayor's desk as we speak. Together we will change that!"
The crowd applauded energetically, clearly approving her message. She waited for the applause to die down before continuing.
"But there is something else I want to talk about with you. Monoism. You all know that Garfield and I have a monogamous relationship, but it goes beyond that. Truth be told our relationship is based on the traditions and customs of the North American continent on Earth, where married couples are monogamous and regard each other as equals. It is not a crime for married couples to be lovers on Earth and after meeting with some of our younger citizens here in our fine city I have learned that they too long to have this kind of relationship with each other and many already do, but in private out of fear of being arrested by the Matriarchal guard. I intend to put an end to that!"
More eager applause followed, with many younger women and a few men standing as they applauded.
"So once again thank you for coming and showing your support. And now, Dr. Zoval and her staff have been kind enough to provide us with a fine luncheon. Enjoy!"
Raven stepped away from the podium as everyone stood and applauded. She took Beast Boy's hand and kissed him and they walked to their places at the table of honor, seated between Arella and Ria.
Dozens of wait staff filed into the room with trays of food which they began to place in front of the guests. Much to his own relief Beast Boy was served a pasta and vegetable dish. Ria placed a hand on his arm.
"We didn't forget about your dietary needs Garfield. And I'm sorry that I called you Mr. Raven Roth, it's just a convention."
"Don't worry, on Earth Raven could be called Mrs. Garfield Logan, but that's kind of archaic and not used much anymore."
As they began to eat Garfield saw several servers appear with bottles of wine. He reached for his wine glass and tuned it upside down. Raven noticed this as she chatted with someone, and in solidarity with him she turned her glass upside down as well.
The luncheon went by quickly and soon some of the guests began to leave. Raven continued to chat with some of the movers and shakers while Garfield was approached by some of the husbands, who were actually interested in asking him questions about himself. The men were especially curious and to the point, asking Garfield questions that were in his opinion very personal. One young man had the temerity to ask him who was dominant when they mated. Eventually the crowd did disperse, leaving the "Roths" alone with about 20 stragglers. The wait staff were busy bussing the dirty dishes when a scream was heard in the kitchen and the staff began to pour out in a panic. Raven and Beast Boy turned in their direction, already having instinctively adopted a combat stance. Their jaws almost hit the floor when they saw the trio emerge.
"Raven, Beast Boy, it's so good to see you again. I've brought some friends to play with you." Slade said as he gestured at Madame Rouge and Dr. Light.
Beast Boy leaped in front of Raven.
"Leave Raven alone Slade!" the changeling growled.
"Silly boy, I didn't come for Raven." Slade replied.
Dr. Light fired a laser cannon built into his body armor and hit Beast By square in the chest. As he collapsed unconscious Madame Rouge extended her arms at yanked him away before Raven could even move. As the sorceress prepared to counterattack Dr. Light threw some pellets in her direction, which exploded with a blinding light. As she struggled to regain her vision she heard Slade taunt her as he left.
"Ta ta, Raven. We'll be in touch. And don't worry about Beast Boy. I'll take good care of him, I promise."
By the time Raven was able to see; they were long gone. She shrieked a primal scream, and every window on the floor exploded.
-( - )-
Raven was pacing frantically back in her living room. Slade and his minions had simply vanished. No one saw them leave the University tower. Nightwing and Cyborg checked and double checked their sensor logs. A portal had opened that morning before the luncheon, but none since. The guys were convinced that they were still somewhere in Azarath. Arella sent the Tamaranian guard out under Starfire's command to search the city with Bumblebee but after hours of searching they returned empty handed. Terra along with Mas Y Menos searched at street level, but there was no sign of there either. Raven had stayed behind at Nightwing's insistence. He did not want her to fall into a trap in her current state of mental disarray. Starfire attempted to console her, but the gesture was futile, as the sorceress was frantic.
The team decided to rest for an hour and eat, and then resume their search. Arella sent for some food from the dining hall and as they waited for it to arrive a courier arrived from downstairs. He explained that a strange woman had dropped off a disc with the instruction to deliver it to Raven immediately. Before the security detail could interrogate the woman she ran outside and vanished into the crowd that had formed.
Raven stared at the disc, afraid of what it might contain. After a moment of staring at it with a fearful face she inserted it into the computer console and braced herself for the worst. As she feared, Slade's masked face appeared on the monitor.
"Hello Raven, by now you know you can't find us, so don't bother trying. I'm sure that you are watching this with the rest of the Titans, so I'll lay this out for all of you."
Starfire could see Raven begin to tremble and wrapped her arms around her dear friend, holding her tight.
"I've been asked by some people who don't like you to kill both you and Beast Boy. Now we all know that could become unpleasant for both of us, am I right Raven? For that reason I propose a deal, a truce if you will. If you back out of the Mayor's race I'll stop torturing Beast Boy and return him to you once the election is over. If you haven't withdrawn by 10:00 PM tonight, we will resume torturing him and I assure you it will be brutal, and I can guarantee you that he won't live to Election Day. I've included a small sample of what we've done to him already. You know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words."
Once Slade finished talking the image on the screen changed. What Raven saw made her squeak a frightened whimper as tears began pouring down her cheeks. Beast Boy was stripped naked, his arms and legs tied to a circle, in a pose reminiscent of DaVinci's "Universal Man", with his legs spread, and dangling by his arms, struggling to breathe, moaning in agony. He was wearing some sort of collar that had LEDs that blinked. His body was covered in bruises, and there was dried blood on his face.
Madame Rouge and Dr. Light walked into the camera's view. Dr. Light grinned to the camera.
"Payback time, you filthy witch!" he sneered. He pulled out what looked like a large electrode and jammed it into Beast Boys testes. The changeling let out a blood curdling scream until he passed out.
Raven's jaw trembled. Starfire wrapped an arm around her.
"They will pay for this! I swear by X'Hal!" the princess roared.
The rest of the team was in an uproar but fell silent as Madame Rouge pulled out a surgeon's scalpel.
"If you do not withdraw by ten, I will begin to cut him. Hmmm, where should I begin?" she smiled evilly as she pointed to Beast Boy's crotch. "Perhaps here?"
Slade's face reappeared on the screen.
"Don't keep us in suspense, Raven. And don't forget, when the clock strikes 10, its over."
The recording ended as the Titans stared dumbfounded at each other, unable to believe the horror they had just seen. All except Terra. She was still staring at the screen, her arms crossed, with a frown on her face.
"I know where they are." she grunted.