15 minutes after Bruce's return, Raven, J'onn and the Wayne's are enjoying the afternoon weather along with the tea, butter and buns, with Raven still using her telekinesis to move the things she needed to. Unknown to her Bruce was taking careful notice of how she was handling it.
"So how did it go?" Bruce asks with a wry smile, he knows he should wait for the meetings like the others but J'onn smirks back at him.
"It was interesting, but you will have to wait for the meeting. I have been meaning to ask; is Raven joining us at this, or are we behind closed doors?" J'onn asks.
"We will have her with us when we hear about how everything went down, but if any evaluation is needed it will be behind closed doors. I was thinking Ravens friends would like to hear how everything went." Bruce answers, knowing that asides from her time with Superman, Cyborg and Beastboy are very much in the dark. "By the way Raven I thought you'd want to see this, page 8." He says as he hands her the news paper he had read at the office, Raven levitates it and opens it on the page. Remaining quiet as she reads the article about herself.
"Well being called an angel is new, but I'm relieved Cole is feeling better." She notes before handing Richard the paper.
"Leaves you as the only casualty on the good guy's side." Tim adds, aware that Raven would probably not be happy to be put in the same boat as Dr. Light, but still gets a light grumble from her.
"On that note, Bruce I need to go into a healing trance to mend my fingers, usually I am unresponsive and floating when I do this." Bruce understands her unspoken question.
"Your room will be fine Raven, as long as things don't start to fly around." He says with a smirk. "Do you have any idea how long it will take?"
"Not really, my perception of time also tends to slip and it depends on the damage I have to heal." Raven says while remembering going into trance once and waking up again three days later.
"Green Lantern will undoubtedly want to start immediately when he see's J'onn again on the station." Bruce mentions, while looking at J'onn.
"We could postpone that for a while, if I can watch the footage here." The Martian replies, Bruce nods at him.
"Seems I'd better get started then." Raven says before sinking through the floor.
In the meantime, on Themyscira, two amazons are in the midst of what has become a daily ritual for them.
"Again sister." Penelope calls for the fallen Philipus to rise again. "You are improving."
"I wonder how sister Raven managed to learn all of this." Philipus asks as she gets to her feet again, since Raven had left, Philipus had partitioned for daily unarmed combat training with Penelope. Philipus had felt humiliated after the fight with the royal guard, in part because she had been taken out without a proper fight and in part because of Raven. An outsider, while formidable, but still an outsider, had dispatched her opponent with such ease.
"From what I have heard, she was part of a unit similar to the one Diana is a part of. They were only children, when they grew up and parted ways, she taught herself the skills, in case she would find herself without her other talents." Penelope replies while falling into a waiting stance. "As I have understood, the Dark One's son led that team." The Amazons close to Diana had all received descriptions of the founding Leaguers when Diana was allowed to return home after restoring Hades to his throne, it had not passed them by that Diana spoke almost admiringly of Batman. One of the things that had stayed with them was that the Princess regularly sparred with the mortal man, and that he held his ground against her.
"You think he would be as formidable as his father?" Philipus asks while dropping into an aggressive stance, knowing Penelope has a desire to test herself against the Dark One, like Artemis.
"I am certain he is, so in a way I figure Raven has indirectly learned her craft from him."
"And adding her own touch to it." Philipus says as she takes one step towards Penelope. The pair is silent for a few moments as they exchange blows before Penelope gets hold of and quickly tosses Philipus to the ground.
"That touch was actually quite scary." Penelope says as she offers her hand to her fallen sister.
"I agree sister." It was much to the envy of those who had not seen the fight between Raven and Diana, since all those who had, seemed to have developed a favorite moment of the fight. Some liked the rapid teleportation Raven had pulled off, some preferred Diana's deflecting of makeshift projectiles and some liked the fight as a whole.
Later that night, Wayne Manor:
Raven awakens from her trance in the middle of the night, testing her fingers, she is satisfied that they are completely healed. While she can't mend the broken bones of others, her own are another matter, but she isn't sure why she has that limit. Having unwrapped the bandages and taken off the stabilizers, she heads out of her room to find a trashcan she can deposit them in safely, it wouldn't do to have someone suspect anything. Deciding to head to the infirmary she walks down the stairs and down the hallways of the mansion, on the way she passes one of the living rooms, where the blue glow of the TV is showing on the wall. Wondering who is watching TV at this hour, Raven takes a peek through the door way. Spotting J'onn watching a green and black piece of putty dance around on the screen, from her position Raven notes he is lost in thought, since he doesn't notice her. Deciding she'd better leave him alone, she completes her original errant before heading back to bed, after all tomorrow she has a meeting with a certain Lantern.
During the night, John sends word for Raven to pack for a field trip; meaning a tent, spare clothes, hygiene articles and basic camp kit to last a few days. The Bat-clan had a chuckle at this, guessing John had to take Raven into a desert to get her to sleep in a tent, but Bruce had Alfred packed it anyways. Bruce had just handed Alfred a list of what would be needed and where he would find it in the cave in case he had forgotten. The end result is a black backpack Richard jokes, Raven could have hidden inside while she lived in the tower; he received a playful slap on the back of the head for his effort.
"So you got all you need?" Richard asks Raven as he looks at the backpack leaning against the railing of the main staircase.
"Probably more than I will need, but I hope so." She replies; they are waiting for J'onn to appear, having been pulled aside for a talk with Bruce, which suited Richard just fine.
"You know Cy expects to be done building within the week?" He asks, having spoken to the man while Raven was busy.
"I figured it would be right about now." She sighs. "Richard, promise me you will let me know when he is done." He gives her a look urging her to continue. "As I told Bruce, making friends with the League is a goal for me, but Starfire matters more." He nods at this.
"I will Rae. Actually, before I forget it and in case we need to; we will need to pick you up somewhere else while en route, since we will need the League's approval to transport Blackfire to Tamaran."
"Which may prove difficulty if I go AWOL." She finishes for him. "Titan Island, pick me up there. I have another concern; that Green Lantern may decide to drag me into deep space."
"We will wait for you Rae, we need you to translate and we can't guarantee Tamaran will be friendly." Raven sighs at this, which Richard notices. "We will bring her back."
"I know, I just can't help wondering what she has gone through these last years, while the rest of us have been continuing our normal lives here? Even I can't compare to what she might have gone though." She pauses for a second before asking; "Richard, what are we going to do when we get her?" Richard knows what she is referring to, because he has been wondering the same. There is the very likely possibility their old friend is anything from traumatized to comatose, the worst case scenario Richard can think of is that Starfire will be blaming them for her suffering.
"We will get her the very best care we can Rae, but when we see her, we retrieve her and leave as fast as possible. We don't need them to have further reason to fight us." He says while taking on a serious face, his way of burying the emotions running though him.
"And if they want to fight anyways?"
Richard smirks at her question. "Then I guess we will see why Wonder Woman holds you in so high regard." Raven shrugs and rolls her eyes.
"There is more to me than brawn you know?"
"Infinitely more, but you tend to hide it all." He replies still smirking. "But considering even Tamaran knows of Trigon, you may be able to intimidate them."
"Unfortunately I can't argue with that." She says, while noticing Bruce and J'onn appearing from the clock leading into the cave. "Ready J'onn?"
"I am." The Martian replies flatly.
"Are you sure you have everything?" Bruce asks, Richard is oddly reminded of a dad seeing his kid off to a school trip.
"I got everything you have packed for me, thank you for letting me borrow it all." Raven confirms, adding a small smile to the last.
"It's there to be used." Bruce replies with a smirk of his own. Unseen by most of them, Alfred comes into the room as well. "Anyways take care." He says while offering her a hand to shake, which she does, he does note there is a certain amount of strength in it.
"Don't worry, I will." Raven assures.
"I won't say be careful, since I know you. But good luck." Richard says after Bruce lets go, offering her a hand as well after a short but frantic discussion in his head if he should be the gentleman or the friend with feelings, deciding on the first option.
"Thank you, depending on what he's cooked up I might need it." Raven replies, she and Richard lock eyes for a second, something they both find a little weird, but neither can really say why. It takes a cough from Alfred for them to notice they are holding hands, Bruce chuckles on the inside.
"I would also want to wish Miss Raven a round of luck." Alfred says while smiling slightly. "And do be careful out there."
"I will and thank you Alfred. Give my best to Tim." She says while smiling to the old man. She grabs her backpack in her powers and turns to J'onn. "Shall we get going?" He nods at her before his eyes begin to glow.
"J'onn to Watchtower, we are ready." No one besides J'onn hears a reply, but he and Raven are suddenly surrounded by a blue glow before they both vanish.
"She is a very resilient young woman, though her hair leaves something to be desired." Alfred says to no one in particular.
"Tougher than most Al, but her hair is natural as far as I know." Richard replies, for some reason he feels the mansion is suddenly emptier than before.
"A byproduct of her heritage, like her skin, I suspect." Bruce ads, to which Richard concurs.
"She once mentioned her mother's hair turned the same shade of purple when she was conceived." Richard continues, it had been one of the things brushed that final night in the tower, Arella used to have very dark hair but during the pregnancy the color had slowly changed.
"I must say I was wondering if it was just a trend she was following, like some of the youngsters nowadays." Alfred continues. Richard smirks inwardly; at least Alfred has learned something new today.
Raven and J'onn materializes on the teleportation pads in the main hall of the space station. Green Arrow gives them a friendly wave from his perch at the monitors before turning to someone besides him.
"Lantern will be here shortly, good luck." J'onn says before becoming transparent and sinks through the floor. Raven picks up her bag, slinging one strap over her shoulder and walks down the stairs.
"Raven?!" Someone's yell draws Ravens attention back to the monitor womb, where a red clad ginger head stands next to Green Arrow, with a look of disbelief on his face. Just as Raven locks eyes with him, equally surprised to see him, as he runs to the wall mounted stairs and almost falls down. Raven doesn't move as he runs across the floor and scoops her up in a tight hug, with the bag still over Ravens shoulder. "Dear God, it's really you!" He laughs. "Wait till I tell the others!"
"Speedy, you are hugging me." Raven says quietly, Speedy puts her down quickly, suddenly remembering something.
"It really is you." He says with a grin.
"It is and the West Team knows." She replies with a grin on her own. "What are you doing up here? Aren't you supposed to be in Steel City?"
"Erm, well I guess you missed it. Sometime after you vanished Titans East was shut down by the city, like you we had nothing to do and the city decided they needed the money elsewhere." Roy says while scratching the back of his neck.
"So they kicked you out." Raven finishes, Speedy nods.
"They did, Aqualad went home so did Mas and Menos and B hooked up with Herald after she broke up with Cyborg. And I went home as well, to Robin Hood up there." He says while throwing a thumb in Green Arrow's direction. "And after he got dragged up here, he decided to bring me along."
"Like I could leave you alone in the house Roy!" Green Arrow yells from his perch, with a smirk on his face. Raven notices Speedy's spirit drops rapidly, as if he is reliving a bad memory.
"What's wrong?" She asks while putting the backpack down in front of her.
"That obvious is it?" He shrugs. "I better tell you this before you hear it from someone else. After Titans West disbanded, we on the East Coast thought it was our time to shine, being the oldest team and all that. It went to my head; I became overconfident as everything seemed to go smoothly. I began losing the sense of thrill I always had when I put on the mask, and I found I couldn't live without it…I did something very stupid and Kid Flash caught me doing it."
"Roy, you did drugs?!" Raven asks in disbelief she asks after connecting the dots, for all the time she has known him, Roy has always seemed like a Richard clone, just with more joy and self confidence. Raven quickly dispels the thought she has of what would happen to Richard if he turns down the same road?
Roy nods at her, she can feel the shame washing off him while he stares at the floor. "Heroin. We had Jinx and Kid Flash move in after the Brotherhood thing. KF did the right thing of course; he told the others. Everything went downhill from there, I refused going into treatment, and B didn't want to see me outside the tower in tights till I did. It went on like that for a month till the city came with the eviction notice. When I moved home, the shit continued there. Oliver found out, of course, and threatened to kick me out unless I straightened out. I have been clean for over a year now, but he doesn't trust me to be alone anymore."
"Can you blame him?"
"No, I am not sure I can trust myself anymore either." He sighs.
"Does anyone outside of Titans East know?"
"Well there's you, now, and when did Robin not know everything about his team? I figure Oliver has told Batman and from there to Robin." Raven doubts Richard knows, while she has no doubt Batman knows or at the very least suspects, Richard has had no reason to look into Roy Harper, actually he hasn't even mentioned once he knows Speedy is a Leaguer.
"I don't need to say how disappointed I am in you?" She says while fixating him with a hard stare and she really was, she had thought they were all better than to fall to such things.
"No, no you don't, I know now how stupid I was and I am still amazed the old Titan's East will even talk to me. But can you forgive me for being that stupid?" He asks while his mask makes the impression of having pleading eyes behind it, Raven stares at him for a few seconds, to him it feels like forever.
"I am disappointed that you chose the way you did Roy, but I can feel your shame over it. There is nothing for me to forgive if the others have." He instantly seems relieved at her words.
"I see you have packed." A deep voice sounds to Raven's left, the two former Titans turn to see Green Lantern walking towards them.
"Yup, shall we get going then?" Raven replies as she picks up her backpack again, John nods at her.
"Follow me." He says before turning back towards the corridor he came from.
"Wait you're going now?" Roy asks as if he is being cheated.
"Been tagging along League Founders for weeks Roy, Green Lantern is the last." Raven replies while pushing past him. "It was nice seeing you again." She doesn't see the downhearted look on his face as he disappears out of her view.
"It was nice seeing you too." He says quietly as the sliding doors close behind Raven, a sudden spark flares inside of him and he runs up to him mentor who is hiding his smirk. "Hey Ollie how long has Raven been here?"
"I didn't see it myself, but I heard the big guns got something mixed up and jumped her in Gotham about three weeks ago. When they tried to bully her up here, she flipped and punched Diana into the ground." Ollie explains while putting his feet up on the console in front of him. "Serves her right too, trying to put her boot on her."
"You must have your facts wrong, Raven isn't the physical type." Roy tries to amuse the old leftie who had this deep rooted opinion that the League was border lining on becoming oppressive tyrants that would use its vast powers to control the world already, sometimes he felt justified about that. And sometimes he would tell Roy that they were helping keeping the League in line as some of the very few, Roy doubted things were as bad as that.
"All I heard Roy, if you want facts, you should probably ask Diana, Batman or those two Titan buddies of yours that are camping in the Metropolis Hall." Roy's jaw simply drops, Ollie has known two of his old friends have been within spitting distance and he has not said anything.
Green Lantern and Raven emerge into the hangar from the corridor, Raven notes there are a few pieces of cloth apparently attached to nothing, designating where Diana's invisible plane is currently parked.
"Is it a secret how far away we are going?" She finally asks, having thought of asking ever since he appeared.
"Expecting a call?" He asks without turning.
"Kinda."
"Well you will be outside reception range, unless you have a phone that can reach outside the solar system." Raven curses inwardly, Starfire's rescue will be delayed.
"Richard?" She sends.
"Raven?"
"I will be going outside of the solar system, I am pretty sure we will be outside of contact." She explains.
"We will wait for you Rae, good luck." She sighs; he is still treating it like a phone.
"So does this place have a name?" She asks, without hope of recognizing the name.
"Mogo." John says, outside of Ravens field of vision he lets on a small smirk. "Stand close." He instructs before they are both surrounded by a green bubble that lifts them off the hangar floor and begins their journey.
Raven, having seen space several times before, quickly grows bored and John is not trying to initiate conversation, so she settles for meditating. "Who knows, I might need it."
Tower of Fate, Salem;
Exhausted from a long night of flying, Shayera finally lands at the Tower of Fate in the early morning hours. She is tired and warm from the flight, a headache is making itself known and all in all, her trip to Jump City had been for nothing. The only ones that actually claimed Raven was evil, was the tabloids and those who believed those kinds of journalists. Sure, lots of people were scared of her, but she never harmed anyone who wasn't asking for it. The only thing she might have, is the dragon, of all things. According to all asked, Raven had offered it no mercy.
"And the lizard is a weak argument." She muses as she steps though the invisible doorway. "Diana will no doubt applaud the action, the others will be torn between if it deserved the option or not."
"You think too loudly." Dr. Fate materializes in front of her as she scales the first of many stairs; she gives him a disbelieving look.
"How did you..?"
"I didn't, but you are only scowling when you are upset." He calmly notes, she realizes he is having an inward chuckle at her expense.
"I'm really not in the mood Kent, it's been a long a fruitless journey for me." She sighs.
"You realize you may be chasing a ghost?" He asks, in a serious tone.
"What do you mean?"
"Raven may have had nothing to do with Dr. Destiny's attack on you." He says flatly.
"Excuse me for wanting proof of that fact." She replies while pushing past him.
"Shayera, if they were really in league with each other. They could have psychic communications with each other to time it; you would never find proof of. Also, if they were, why would she help you when you were at your weakest and why does Dr. Destiny have a broken arm now?"
"For all we know she could have paid him for it." Shayera retorts.
"Paid him to act scared, then fall down a flight of stairs and break an arm. Destiny is not motivated by money Shayera, he wants respect. Murdering a Leaguer is a way of doing it and he would have noticed J'onn's inability to enter your mind during your first encounter." Fate explains without changing his tone, well knowing Shayera is a stubborn woman and a grumpy one at the moment.
"So you're saying I just happened to be targeted because I am harder to save than the rest?" She replies while crossing her arms.
"Yes." Fate says flatly.
"Forgive me, but until I am satisfied, I will still be suspicious of her. Everyone is around me." Fate just nods at her while wondering if she had been to visit Destiny yet. "What have you found on her?"
"I have nothing conclusive about her." Fate replies and gets a look prompting him to explain. "She is not old enough to feature in my library, not in person. However as I suspected, she fits quite a few doomsday prophecies, all whom foretell the coming of Scarth, Surtr, Drez and number of other names for Trigon. However, they all follow the same pattern; the child of the Devil will deliver the world to him, they never go beyond that however." He adds the last bit quickly.
"What if all of what's already happened was a ruse, to make us think he was gone or if she is any better?" Shayera continues and get a look from Fate. "You said it yourself; she's the daughter of pure evil."
"But she is not the evil herself." Fate replies getting a deep sigh.
"Then why are you still looking?" She asks with defeat leaking into her voice.
"Because there are many things that will have changed for her with the fall of Trigon, things I am not sure she is even aware of. But most obvious of all Shayera, is that she will have freed herself of his influence, to make her own fate."
"Which can end up being something we will all come to regret." Shayera sighs as she reaches the door to her room. "I need to rest, if you have anything more I will hear about it tomorrow. Good night." She says before entering and closes the door after her, leaving the mage behind.
She doesn't see him shake his head at the door after it's closed. "If only you fully understood demons." He thinks to himself.
Somewhere in space:
As she has mentioned to her friends when asked, politely and not while she is doing it, the goal of Raven's meditation is to clear hear head of any unwanted thoughts that may upset her emotional balance. Sometimes she does this by thinking about nothing, but at other times she needs to think even more; events that have troubled or upset her are dissected and analyzed until she can look at them again without being emotionally stirred. Like the time Richard was forced to become Slade's unwilling apprentice and the events surrounding the creation of the Red-X suit.
At first Raven had thought it was his own fault that he ended up the way he did, his own inability to confide in his friends, ask for their help, to admit he was out where he couldn't handle it alone. His obsession with Slade, to prove he needed no one to take down the elusive mastermind. Meditating upon both matters had enabled Raven to see past most of that.
His need to do it alone stemmed from two sources, according to Raven's analysis; the first being the fact that he was the only one on the team without any meta-human abilities, which would make many feel inadequate, much less to be the leader of said team. But he did what he could, and it was much more than what should be asked of him. The other source was his need for independent victories; which came from his break with Batman and what came before it.
During their occasional talks, Richard had revealed that he always felt inadequate when being around Batman, the student who still had much to learn from the master. Moving to Jump City was his way of telling Batman that he could handle himself and when Slade appeared, Richard had found his Joker. Unfortunately this single mindedness and determination to bring Slade to justice and prove he was as good as his mentor turned into an obsession, which made him easy for Slade to get to.
After he had become Slades apprentice and ensuring his later freedom, Raven had meditated hard upon the whole matter. She looked at everything that had happened between the Titans, Robin and Slade. She had come to the conclusion that Slade had targeted Robin from the very start; she and the other Titans were only a minor annoyance to him.
Slade had, ever since revealing his existence, been playing Robin, set up pointless fights, left clues that led nowhere and even going to far as making robots in his likeness for them to beat up, only to make Robin think he may have won or had an edge over his opponent, only to find himself right where Slade wanted him. Then when Slade finally made his move and left a map with Cinderblock, Robin could no longer hold back and walked straight into Slade's trap. Looking back, Raven knows she is still partly blaming Robin for charging so recklessly into that trap, while the rest of them were trying to disarm a faux bomb, even by then he should have known he couldn't take Slade on alone.
Her logical mind came to the conclusion that Robin should have come to them, Slade would have slipped away again, most likely, but Robin would have been safe. But he didn't. Raven realized that when Robin knew what Slade had done to his friends, he had no choice even if it pained him to do so. She came to realize Slade actually made one mistake during it all; he pushed Robin too hard and too far, and when Slade finally had him, Robin hated him with every fiber of his being. At that time, Raven had finally come to the conclusion that she couldn't blame Robin for anything, since she was still waging her own personal war against Trigon in complete secrecy.
The act of meditation itself usually leaves Raven without sense of time, which is part of the idea behind relaxing while meditating. But since the Titans left Jump City, Raven has mastered the art of being able to meditate while being aware of her surroundings if she chooses to, which is not in this moment. This degree of control was impossible to attain while living with the others, as they had all seen her open eyes as an invitation to address her. Right now during the journey in space, Raven has definitely lost her perception of time and place. Being in a silent green bubble that is moving at the speed of light will do that. There is no light to indicate time of day, no sensation that indicates they are even moving and the only sound she can hear is John's calm breathing and her own heartbeat.
"We're here kiddo." John says the first thing he has said during the flight.
She opens her eyes and sees a star shining brightly in their faces as they leave the tunnel of light, between them and the star is a large planet. Raven can't see much of it as they are approaching it from its night side, only near the edge facing the star can she see traces of greens and blues hidden beneath the clouds of the world. On the night side Raven notes only one thing, the absence of light that would indicate civilization. To her other senses however, Raven feels there is definitely something or someone on the planet, but she can't put a finger on what it might be, but she guesses it must be big since she can sense it from space.
"Looks nice." She replies while John takes them through the atmosphere. "So what are we doing here?"
"We are going to play a little game of hide and seek." John replies while their bubble is encased in clouds.
"Excuse me?"
"I am going to drop you off here for a few days, then I'll come back with some of my friends and we are going to find you. Depending on how long it takes for us to find you with determine your score." John explains while sporting an amused grin, Raven puts on her stone face.
"You realize I can walk to other dimensions right?"
"I will know if you move off the planet, believe me. Get your pack ready." He instructs while they come near to canopy of the forest below.
"So you are leaving me alone on a strange planet till you feel like coming back to get me." Raven surmises with a sour tone.
"Pretty much. Watch that first step." Suddenly the bubble disappears under her leaving her to fall the rest of the way, still moving at the same speed the bubble was. The action is so sudden Raven doesn't have time to levitate herself before she is tearing through the branches and leaves of the trees before coming to an abrupt halt as she collides with a massive tree trunk before falling to the ground, unconscious. John only watched till she disappeared amongst the trees before he flies back into space, assuming one that could slap Diana around could handle a rough landing, not knowing she was out cold.