"Welcome to Wayne Manor Miss Diana and Mister Jones." Alfred greets the pair waiting in the doorway.
Diana is wearing a deep red strapless dress that hugs her shape, the bottom of it ends at her ankles and is cut open at the sides to her knees. As always she is wearing her bracelets. J'onn has taken the guise of a human with golden and slightly curly hair, a long jaw and piercing brown eyes. The brown trench coat he is wearing is usually worn with the grey suit underneath, but for tonight her has replaced the grey with a white tuxedo and a red butterfly.
"Thank you Alfred." Diana says with a smile as she enters the house.
"Shall I take your coat Mister Jones?" Alfred asks.
"No, thank you." J'onn replies in his usual flat voice, after the door is closed he absorbs the coat back into his body.
"Very good, if you will follow me." Alfred motions for them to follow him into down the hallways into the dining hall, where they find Bruce, Richard and Tim sharing a private joke as they loiter around the fireplace. Bruce is leaning against it with a glass of water in his hand, Richard standing in front of him with his hands in his jacket pockets while Tim is sitting in a chair facing them. They are all wearing black tuxedos with white shirts underneath and red ties. Alfred clears his throat as he steps aside from the door to let the two behind him enter. The group inside immediately straighten up, Richard takes his hands out of his pockets and Tim jumps out of the chair.
"Master Wayne may I present; Princess Diana of Themyscira and Detective John Jones."
"Diana, glad you could come." Bruce says while walking over to kiss her hand, before turning to J'onn. "And welcome J'onn." He says while extending his hand to shake.
"Thank you Mr. Wayne." J'onn replies while shaking his hand.
"Master Wayne, shall I go fetch Miss Raven?" Alfred asks.
"You may Alfred." Bruce replies.
"I hope she hasn't decided to go patrolling the city while we weren't looking." Richard mentions as he overhears Alfred suggestion, it's been two hours since any of them had last seen her. "She was…erm, overwhelmed by what we had found for her for these kinds of occasions." He explains as Bruce and Diana quirks eyebrows.
"Took us two hours to get her into a dress for a small formal event on Themyscira." Diana mentions, figuring the men were leaving Raven to dress herself.
"I thought It was all training over there?" Tim asks.
"My mother wanted to have a chance to talk to her under more relaxed circumstance, so she invited her and a few others for dinner." Diana replies, Bruce and Richard guess that it was also a celebration of Raven joining them.
"So J'onn, you are really from Mars?" Tim asks as he turns his attention to him.
"Yes, I am a Martian." J'onn replies flatly.
"Don't look like it." Tim continues, thinking J'onn looks like he came out of the old Casablanca movie.
"You don't have to pretend while inside the mansion J'onn." Bruce mentions, J'onn nods before changing his hands and face to what the world is used to seeing.
"I heard it was a formal dinner, so I will keep the suit." He says with a slight smirk, it is a little known fact in the League that J'onn often watches old movies in an attempt to understand humans better. Wally have often pointed out it is the fewest humans that act like the ones in the movies do.
"Whoa, that's more like it!" Tim exclaims happily.
"Tim, be civil." Richard says quietly while poking him with his elbow. "So J'onn what are you planning for Raven?"
"I hope she will join me in a meditative trance, where we can walk each other's minds. What I have seen so far in hers is quite fascinating; I hope she might find what she will see in my mind equally so." J'onn explains.
"Not to be offending or something, but I heard Raven mention unwelcome entries into a mind is a gross violation?" Richard asks, not wanting to use the exact words Raven used.
"It is amongst telepaths, it was on Mars amongst my own people and here on Earth as well. And what you heard is a figure of speech, but close to what we think of it."
"So when you have to do it to a non-psychic?" Richard continues.
"It is different, telepaths are generally more in control of and more sensitive regarding their minds than others, and we can sense the intrusion long after it is gone where others may never have noticed it was there. You may think of a psychic's mind like sand, if someone is to step in it, there will be prints. A non-psychic in comparison is almost solid rock." J'onn explains.
"So we wouldn't know if you are actually inside our heads right now?" Tim asks.
"You would, I didn't say you wouldn't know if someone is there now, only the most careful telepaths would be able to do it unnoticed. We can however pick up stray thoughts that are being projected, like you inner voices. Like you are wondering why I'm not small." Tim's jaw drops before Richard pokes him in the side again, Bruce and Diana let out small chuckles. From behind them Alfred clears his throat.
"Master Wayne, honored visitors, I would like to present Miss Raven." This time it is Richard whose jaw drops as Raven appears in the doorway, he quickly receives an elbow in the side from Bruce.
Diana is oddly reminded of a dress she once wore in Paris. The one Raven is wearing is black, long enough to reach her ankles, with a white stripe circling the dress halfway up her shin. Like the one Diana wore, Raven's dress hugs her figure, unlike Diana's however, this one supports itself, without the need for the spaghetti straps Diana's had. Leaving her shoulders exposed, along with her arms and her bracelets Diana notes with a smirk. Raven puts on a small smile on her face as she sees Diana.
"So I take it they know, sister." Diana greets her in a warrior fashion like she did after apologizing for her own behavior, by extending her arm with a clenched fist, which Raven mirrors with a smirk.
"They do sister." Raven replies. Richards mind goes blank for a moment, he had heard it from Raven herself, he has seen the bracelets, but apparently a large part of his mind was still in denial that Raven has become an Amazon and Diana has just confirmed it. If someone had told him a month ago that Raven was going to become an one, he would have laughed at the person before saying there must have been a mistake. It would have been Starfire that would become one, never the physically frail sorceress he thought he knew.
"By accident." Bruce admits. "You look good Raven." He adds with a knowing smirk, having passed by Richard's room while the two were arguing.
"Thank you Bruce." She replies while Bruce kisses her hand.
"Yeah you look neat." Tim adds.
"Thank you as well Tim, so what do you think Richard?" Raven asks, noticing Richard is staring.
"I'm at a loss for words." Richard manages, getting chuckle out of Bruce and a smile out of Diana.
"It seems I have been upstaged by you, sister." Diana notes with a smile, Raven hides her mild surprise at this.
"My apologies, sister."
"Take it as a compliment, so how did the world's greatest detective figure it out?" Diana asks.
"We had Raven do a little demonstration on a tree in the forest, turned out my parents had left a message in the trunk. Say Alfred, would you know anything about that?" Bruce asks his butler who is entering with the utensils.
"Why yes, they were very fond of visiting an old oak during the summers before you were born. I do believe your mother came to call it Oaky after you're farther carved their names into it. Do sincerely hope the old boy is still standing?" Alfred replies while remembering something.
"He should be fine, we found out when Raven put him back together." Bruce reassures.
"Well that's good. Dinner shall be served in a few moments." Alfred walks out of the room after Bruce's nod of approval at the announcement.
"Good to see you again J'onn." Raven greets the alien, who so far has remained silent since she entered.
"You too Raven. You've changed." He notes that there was parts of her psyche that had also grown since he last saw her.
"Well considering what she has been through, it is expected. But we should save that till later." Diana mentions as they take their seats.
"I do sincerely hope you will until after you've had a taste of my especially prepared steak with peas and mashed potatoes." Alfred says cheeringly as he pushes a trolley inside with several dishes. Raven notes the bottles in the bucket of ice are all apparently non-alcoholic, which she is quite relived about.
The dinner proves to be a jolly affair with many stories being swapped between them all; Bruce with a few about himself and what he had to do sometimes to get out of a party to save the city, Richard and Raven with a few of the adventures they had shared and some of the odd situations they'd had at the tower. Tim chips in with some about his friends from school and some about the two other heroes he lives with. Diana's leads over into the more heroic, mainly featuring her sisters past exploits. J'onn remains silent most of the time, but does add a few amusing moments he's experienced on Earth.
"I'm not surprised that he tries to x-ray his Christmas presents." Bruce mentions after J'onn finishes his tale of how he spent his first Christmas with Superman.
"Admit it Bruce, you'd do that as well if you could." Richard adds. "Good thing we have Tim to keep you away from monitor duty on that night." Between Richard leaving Gotham and Tim's appearance, some four years ago, Batman had almost a monopoly on guard duty on the station around Christmas. Richard had speculated it was because Bruce had no one but Alfred to celebrate it with, and because the times reminded Bruce too much that his parents were not there with him and how lonely he really was. Though he knows he goes to share cup of coffee with Commissioner Gordon on the night, something that had become a ritual to the two; to celebrate having survived another year.
"True, but that's just how I am." Bruce admits with a smirk. They are finishing their desserts, a chocolate soufflé with a strawberry on top. Having gone through a light appetizer consisting of fish, followed up by the main course. All served with water or fruit juice, Bruce had let Raven know that he never drank, in case he was called out. And that all the photos of him drunk or drinking were acts for the cameras.
Bruce had decided to use a smaller table this evening, large enough for eight so they wouldn't feel cramped or begin kicking each other's shins. Also he had the fore thought of arranging the seats, with him at one end, J'onn at the other, Richard and Raven on one side and Diana and Tim on the other, Richard had noted Bruce had placed both women next to him. It is as Raven leans forwards to finish off her soufflé he notes something on the exposed part of her back.
"Umm Rae what's that?" Raven looks over at him with her mouthful, chewing it quickly to be able to speak and not appear uncivilized.
"What? Do I have a spider crawling up my back?" She asks. Richard decides to tempt fate and pokes the scar he spotted sticking over her dress.
"That."
"Oh that, just bullet ricochet from a couple of armed robbers in Jump two years ago. Believe me, it took me a lot of time to get it out when I got back, had to hold a mirror while directing the tongs with my powers. I passed out when I finally got it out; when I woke up I healed the internal damage and forgot about it."
"Rae you should have called one of us." Richard informs her quietly.
"I spent the first month with thoughts of how much I missed one of you in different situations, before I finally accepted that I had to do everything by myself. And Cyborg did leave a small mountain's worth of instruction manuals, besides it's not like you're the one to talk." She replies remembering how many times her and the others had been denied to help him.
"I think that runs in the family." Diana adds, sending a knowing look at Bruce, who pretends not to notice.
"Touché Raven, but you could at least have let us know you had been shot." Richard continues.
"I didn't want you all to storm over to fuss over me, besides it was not the first one." Raven replies calmly. "Anyways if you will excuse me for a moment." She continues as she gets up and heads out to find the bathroom, well aware that Richard is staring after her. Tim decides after a moment to ask something that should have been asked by Raven.
"So Diana we have heard Raven is only running on 1/3 of what Amazons are fueled by, so are you expecting her to go back and finish off the rest?"
"If she wants to, but as she has proven, she hardly needs it." Diana replies while looking down at the boy next to her.
"I was unaware that your people took in outsiders at that age?" J'onn mentions.
"We take in those we find worthy or those whom we can mold. But we have had very few of either, as you can guess. I know my mother has her own reasons for it, but she has said nothing about them, and refused when I asked."
"Could Shayera be a candidate for example?" Bruce asks.
"I am not sure. But outsiders will have to either share our burdens or perform a great feat to be accepted." Diana explains.
"Like fighting Ares?" Tim asks.
"In Ravens case she did both, engaging him for our sakes and turning her back on him while having him at her mercy. My mother said that Raven made the same choice she had to for deliverance, and that meant a lot to her personally. But believe me it is the fewest outsiders that can manage it."
"Well it's good to know she can make the right choices." Bruce says. "Actually while we are on the subject, Raven will need a few pointers about how to handle and effectively workout with the sudden increase of physical strength."
"I will, it will be good to have another sparring partner." Diana replies with a smirk.
"Was two fights not enough?" Raven asks as she appears in the doorway.
"What can I say, Shayera and Barda tend to fight a like and Superman holds back. Actually that reminds me, Barda is still waiting for that rematch." Raven sighs as she sits down, having forgotten the towering woman.
"I hope she will settle with one round." The company settles into comfortable silence, listening to the fire. Before Richard opens his mouth.
"So Raven since you admit having been shot several times, how many scars is that dress hiding?" Everyone at the table seems to stare at him, which goes completely unnoticed by him. Raven just narrows her eyes at him.
"Richard; think before you talk. Diana, what do you say to a little fresh air?" Raven gets up again and walks out the room with the smirking Princess in tow. Leaving the men behind.
"I do believe you could have put that better." J'onn says quietly.
"Yeah Dick, that was something the guys in my class come up with when trying to sound older." Tim adds, Bruce settles for chuckling as Richard groans before burying his head in his arms on the table.
"Has young Master Richard let his tongue run off with him again?" Alfred asks as he enters the room.
"You know he cares about you?" Diana asks as the two enjoy the night air on the terrace.
"Yes, but it's bordering on the frustrating, you know I don't like to be fuzzed about and that's what's he's doing. Like I am incapable of taking care of myself." Raven grumbles.
"Well friends tend to worry when they learn one has been shot." Diana counters.
"Richard had some moments where he was almost hospitalized and then charged off immediately afterwards, we had to drag him back into bed."
"Would the reaction be different had it been one of your other friends?" Diana asks, somehow beginning to see similarities between Raven and Bruce. Raven sighs before answering.
"Richard is the only one that can do what he does around me. Everyone backs off when I tell them to, he just sees it as a challenge. Even Garfield would have thought of a better way to ask the question he did, what Richard asked just lay too close to some of the emotions he's being transmitting since I met him here."
"So you are aware he may be attracted to you?" Raven nods at the question.
"And you know why I can't return his affection; I just don't know what will happen. Besides I don't know if it's just a crush on his part…from what I've read, Richard Grayson could have any woman he'd want."
"Yet he casts his sights on you, who knows Richard may be picky? Besides how do you know something bad will happen?" Diana asks.
"I fear that I will wake up with nothing of him left, I just can't risk something like that." Raven sighs.
"Well you can always take precautions or find someone more durable to try with first." Raven freezes her pacing to stare at Diana before replying.
"I was certain all you had was water." Diana chuckles at her.
"Ok I'll stop. But let me tell you how I found out Bruce feels something for me. We once had to intercept several nuclear missiles heading for the same city. While we deactivated the warheads on all of them, one kept going after we managed to shut down the engines of the others. I tried to slow it down and succeeded, ending up with me getting buried under it. After getting my wind back I pushed it off and found the others had thought I had died and that Bruce, as the only one, had tried to dig me out with his bare hands. Of course he later claimed it was only concern for a team member that made him do it."
"He tries hard to be what people think of him." Raven admits, knowing Bruce had not done that during most of her stay with him.
"True, but that's one of the things I like about him. He is the only one of the founders without actual powers, yet he is probably better than all of us."
"You admire him for doing all that he can?" Raven asks as she leans against the railing Diana has been propped against since they came outside.
"He does more than anyone could ever expect of him, to the exclusion of everything." Diana sighs at the last part, knowing that meant her as well; Raven senses the shift in the woman.
"You will corner him one day." Raven assures while patting Diana's shoulder.
"And Richard will corner you." Diana replies with a smirk. "You know, I've noticed a lot of similarities between the relationships we have here tonight?"
"Oh? How's that?"
"Well as you have probably read, both Richard and I seem to be able to pick and choose, yet we both have our sights set on people that won't admit the feelings are mutual." Raven sighs at the comparison, wondering if it is a compliment or a warning that she may be sharing some Batman's personality.
"Well we both say we have our reasons and we probably both need therapy." Actually Raven was thinking that both Bruce and her would end up in Arkham if they ever went to a therapist and told everything.
"No, you just need to loosen up a bit." Diana says as she stares out at the city, as if on cue the infamous signal shaped like a bat lights up the sky, Diana sighs. "Well it's time to go to work."
"Looks like it." Raven says before they head inside to see the Bats already suiting up.
10 minutes later the group has assembled out of sight on a rooftop across from the police headquarters, where a solitary figure is staring at the sky next to the large sky light with the bat signal. Batman had told them all to wait there while he went over to hear the man out.
"It's strange, it's been relatively quiet since we brought in Roman, but a few days ago a series of burglaries began. No positive id as all security cameras in the locations had been blown off the wall, what recording we do have only shows the shops being lit up from the outside, like if someone brought a light into the place." Jim Gordon explains as Batman looks over the photos.
"What was stolen?" He asks.
"Hard cash and jewelry only."
"And no witnesses?"
"One, an officer Cole responded tonight to a burglary in the Tetson Jewelry Store. She said that when she arrived, she spotted a suspect coming out of the store, said he wore some kind of white and black suit. When Cole tried to apprehend him, the suspect threw something at her, blinding her, permanently." Batman looks up from the photos at this. "The doctors say she will live, but they say her eyes are like if she had been staring into the sun too long."
"I'll look into it." Batman replies.
"One other thing, I don't know if you can, but if you could ask that girl you had with you when we busted Roman to go see Cole, it would be appreciated. She's been mentioned a lot since she did what she did to the officers that were injured in the bust." Batman nods at the request.
"She has limitations, but I will ask if I see her." Gordon nods back his thanks before turning around to turn off the projector.
"She's currently in Gotham Memorial…" Gordon turns around again, finding himself alone on the roof. "One day I'm going to nail his boots to the floor." He sighs to no one.
"So what did the Commish have for us?" Robin asks as Batman return to the others.
"Burglar responsible for blinding an officer, wears a black and white suit only thing stolen is easy money, apparently capable of emitting light strong enough to burn out cameras. Raven?"
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything." She answers before he asks.
"She's in Gotham Memorial, under the name Cole, the rest of us will go to the crime scene." Raven nods at him before disappearing.
It takes a while to find Cole, as she wouldn't enter by the front door, it would take too long and involve too many questions. After finding the woman by listening in on the doctors, she has to wait for them to leave the room leaving her to sit outside on the wall for a good 15 minutes before the lights in Cole's room goes out. Creeping slowly into the room, Raven notes that it has a single bed; the occupant looks to be in her mid to late twenties, has short dark hair and has her eyes bandaged, she appears to be asleep. Raven turns solid next to the bed, looking at the woman for a moment, wondering how she is going to do this without waking her. As Raven knows from experience, when one's eyes cannot be used, other senses are strengthened and it is one of these that alerts the woman to her presence.
"Who's there?!" She asks suddenly while leaning away from Raven, who is a bit surprised.
"A friend. Cole I may be able to help you, I just need you to hold still." Raven replies, the woman appears to be a bit confused.
"O…Ok." She stammers, she had been told earlier that there was no hope for her sight. As Raven puts a hand over her eyes she asks. "Will this hurt?"
"It won't." Raven assures before her blue aura appears around her hand and slowly spreads onto the woman's face. "You may want to lie back, this will take some time." Cole does as instructed feeling oddly calm in the presence of the stranger. "Can I ask who did this to you?"
"I never got a good look, but he wore a black and white body suit, as I ordered him to surrender I only caught glimpse of a beard before everything went white then black." Raven has a feeling she knows who it is and sighs at the Jump City Penitentiary for not keeping him behind bars. "So who are you?"
"I'm…just a helping hand." Raven replies before falling silent for almost 10 minutes, muscles are easy for her to rebuild, but the human eyes are the most complex part of the body outside of the brain.
"HEY! What do you think you're doing?!" Ravens eyes bolt to the door seeing a male porter and a woman behind him standing there with a mixed expression on their faces. The orderly turns on the light, Raven decides to retreat and disappears in a puff of smoke.
"Melissa what happened, who was that?" The woman in the door pushes past the man to tend to Cole, the man moves quickly to the windows, seeing nothing outside of them.
"Mom?" Cole turns her head to the sound of the voice.
"It me dear, I came as soon as I could when I heard. What was that thing in here?!"
"She said she was here to help." Cole begins to fumble with her bandages.
"Miss you shouldn't, it could damage what's left." The orderly says as Melissa Cole tears the rest of the bandages from her head, squinting in the bright light.
"It's bright in here." She says before focusing on her mother. "You have been crying." Her mother is shocked for a second before being embraced by her daughter.
"A saint… it must have been an angle…" She mumbles as she begins to cry as she hugs her daughter, leaving the baffled orderly to get a doctor.
"Asides from everything looking like it has been left in the sun for too long, it looks like an ordinary burglary to me." Robin says while scratching his neck.
"Judging from the fading colors, the suspect came in through the door, probably activated whatever weapons he had outside in the streets." Nightwing thinks out loud.
"And moved directly to cash register, before going through the displays." Batman continues. Diana is pretty much left standing in the middle of the shop, while letting J'onn and the Bats work.
"The perpetrator has melted through the safe door." J'onn notes from the back room.
"Gordon said this is pretty much what this guy does?" Nightwing asks Batman who is examining the cash register closely with a flashlight.
"Yes." Batman replies without looking up.
"Ok, so he wants easy money has access to some advanced light based powers and wears a black and white suit." Nightwing surmises.
"Add that it is a body suit and that the officer who was injured thought she saw a beard and you get?" Raven says as she appears in the doorway.
"Arthur Light." Batman looks up from behind the counter at Richard's deduction.
"Dr. Light from Jump City?" He asks.
"Yeah, he fits the description; we always busted him with his hands full of other people's money, except for one time. He wears a suit and has a goatee, and he can manipulate light." Richard continues.
"Well it is a suspect." Batman notes as he goes back to examining the rest of the place. Nightwing does as well. Leaving the two amazons to look on, while Raven notes to herself that she could help, but as there are already four working on it and one of them is Batman.
"This is the tedious part, if you're not the one looking." Raven mentions to Diana, who really is bored. Normally her own cases didn't involve detective work and the few that did were usually handed over to Bruce.
"I feel like a fish out of water here." Diana confirms.
"Took me months to understand everything Robin left behind. But it did help against the crooks that proved a bit wiser or faster than most." Raven mentions, Bruce still focused on the job at hand mentally notes he needed to find out how good Raven is at detective work.
"Can you tell me what they are looking for?" Diana asks, having come to some ideas she couldn't confirm without disturbing someone.
"Fingerprints, to tell them who did it, or to tie a suspect to this place when caught. Sand, dirt or other fibers to tell them where the suspect might have been before coming here. If we had been lucky, there might have been blood or other types of DNA they can use for the same thing as the fingerprints. In this case they are also looking at the effect of whatever devices this guy is carrying so they won't be completely surprised when they find him and have to fight him. It can be summarized by the need to know the enemy." Raven explains, Batman and Nightwing let's on small smirks at Ravens summary, because it is what they are doing. "When they get back they will run all sorts of tests on the stuff the find, some will be discarded while others will be looked at closer."
"Now Raven, don't let all of our secrets slip." Nightwing mentions.
"Well those are mine, can't help it if they happen to be yours as well." Raven replies while crossing her arms.
"She's got a point Nightwing." Robin says from behind the women, busy examining what used to be a surveillance camera, now a molten mass of plastic.
"It's a delicate process Diana and I can't give you timeframe for when we are done. Raven how is the officer?" Batman mentions.
"I'm not sure, I felt that I was repairing what was damaged, but an orderly interrupted me before I had a chance to see the results."
"Well if it worked, we will hear about it. Diana why don't you and Raven see if there's any clues outside." Raven wonders, if the suggestion is because they are crowing the space, but opts not to say anything.
Outside as Raven examines the ground, Diana resorts to window shopping. It is a side street with all sorts of small shops, the jewelry shop lies besides a book store and a clothes' shop, Raven notes Diana grimacing at the dresses on display.
"I still don't understand why women would dress in something like this?" She says, looking at a loose green dress that's a little transparent.
"Me neither, but I usually get into an argument if I say so." Raven replies, guessing it would be ill advised to mention Diana's armor is little better than a swimsuit, divinely crafted or not. Diana moves to the next shop.
"This one is even worse, it doesn't even have dignity." Raven looks up to see what it is her sister finds so distasteful. Finding her looking into a sex-shop, the offending garment proves to be a two piece bikini set, or rather a frame of a bikini made out of black leather straps', leaving the most important area's exposed on the mannequin it's attached to.
"Umm, that's not a clothes shop and the press would have field day if they caught you looking at it." Diana moves away from the window to look at Raven instead.
"So what is it?" Raven had been hoping to avoid that kind of question.
"Umm, sometimes people out here want their, well… sexual relationships to be a bit more exciting. They can go into shops like that for some of the items needed for that." She explains.
"And can I ask how you know this?" Diana asks.
"Had to arrest a bank robber that had taken cover inside a similar store in Jump City once, guy who owned it gave me a 20% discount for the publicity he was getting."
"Oh." Diana wonders if she should try and see what's inside at another time.
"Diana, I can sense your curiosity from here, I'll advise you to look like someone else when you go in." Raven advises; Diana shrugs.
"I'll take it under advisement sister." At that moment a static in the Leaguers ears, as well as Nightwing's and Robin's.
"To all Leaguers in the Gotham City vicinity, this is Oracle. There is a GCPD report of a robbery in the first national bank. Reports go that a monster has been sighted tearing its way into the bank. Police has it surrounded in the bank as we speak." Inside the shop Batman acknowledges that the situation will be handled by those present. It has to be serious when Oracle didn't settle with calling Batman, and only Batman.
