Update (2/13/2013): TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne had a great idea, and I couldn't resist it. Accordingly, I have implemented it. The new material is near the end of the chapter, in Raven's conversation with Rita at the coffee house after the fight with the bank robbers.
ShoutOuts:
Darkness On The Rise: No, no. The story does not end here. I've got a couple of plot twists yet to go, and at least one marriage proposal to drag you people through before I quit.
Shadico – Not an argument. Just a confrontation. A sharing of the facts – experienced older woman to novice female person like. I can't imagine Raven OR Rita being foolish enough to throw down with one another. The city is too fragile for that nonsense.
RandomDalmatian326 – You're right. Nightwing is going to enjoy the simplicity of swinging from a grapnel line through grimy streets, putting the beat down on thugs and busting up racketeers. Nice, simple things. Things that don't make your feel. Changeling isn't just giving Raven her space – he's finding a way to feel like a good guy again. He feels like a villain, and doesn't like the way it feels, at all. Cyborg did an awesome job of not getting any drama on him. I hope leaping back and declaring "I'm Switzerland" doesn't come back to bite him on the ass. Rita is, as I'm sure you can guess, going to offer perspective. But no advice. As to affairs? Well, this is certainly "infidelity." But to me, an "affair" connotes planning, deception, and intent.
Thoewll3 – Well, it certainly was a bad move on Starfire and Changeling's part. And I've got to admit, I'm uncertain of my ability to make this right and have it be believable. But I have a roadmap, and I'm going to follow it. It may make you say "aw, c'mon, who acts like that?" but I'm gonna follow it.
St Rhon – She tried, but I think a little patience would be in order. But a lot of Starfire's patience has already been used up. "Humans. Why must dealing with their feeling be so hard?" Yes – you'd think Nightwing would have been a little more broad-minded. Like Bruce, loyalty is his big thing. Even after all this time, he's having a hard time wrapping his head around how different Starfire is. I'm glad you noticed that flip with the comics. Part of the problem fanfic has with Starfire's culture is that Tamaranian culture was always treated as comic, and as I've written this, I come to feel that that wasn't really fair to Starfire, so I'm hoping to explore a little of it and give it more gravitas than it was given on the show. And you're right. The changes on Tamaran are going to rock Starfire to her core.
NicoleThePenguin – I haven't broken up the team. I'm merely – load testing it. Do you really think that the Beast is going to give up MINE just because The Other is feeling a little skittish?
Guest – Thanks. I moved a little fast, I thought, and I was unsure about scattering the team so far away, but the story kinda drove itself once I started.
Alister Nightfoot – It was easy to find the Klingon. If any scholars of Kingonaase actually read it though, it will probably give them a headache. I just threw my dialogue into a Kingon/Terran Standard translator I found on the web and cut and pasted. I have no idea if it's actually structurally valid.
Ominous Footstep – I know. I feel like Jack L. Chalker, the way I torture the characters I'm so fond of. But you can't have dramatic tension without conflict.
Guest – Oh, NicolethePenguin knows.
Unicorn819 – Planned? Not really. I thought a tragic ending would make for a really dramatic exit. (Just messing with you. I actually do have a plan. I hope the team follows it.)
TheLuckyShot – Actually, yes, there will be a moderate time skip. I'm not planning to drag everbody through Starfire, Nightwing, and Changeling establishing themselves in the new venue, or Cyborg and Raven trying to integrate new Titans into the team. But it won't be a long one.
Victorthe3rd – You did? I didn't. I was actually surprised.
Guest – Yeah. I thought about a halting confession, but since we'd already been through that with Garfield and Starfire, I thought something simpler would work with Cyborg.
Paragon the Half-Dragon – Because of my awesome, 7eet melodrama slinging skilz. (I'm really humble, too!) Hey. You asked.
ChaosMuramasa13 – Sorry. Into every adventure/drama a little rain must fall.
JOHNXgambit – He is, indeed. I wish he would just quit catching me lifting his dialogue. Yes, remember, there was a two hear time skip after Winter Break. Raven spent that time continuing to acclimate. I know it's a drastic change. But if I don't let her grow, it gets tedious.
Azarune – I'm writing . . . I'm writing. (Slave driver. Grumble)
IanZakk – I'm glad you're staying with me. But you can spend as much time as you like telling me how great I am. Really. I'll read it. Honest.
00cLosetFreak00 – Well, dude, I didn't say I'd fix it RIGHT NOW did it. Nooooo – there is no drama without conflict. And thanks. I'm actually fluent in hubmumble myself, so that part was pretty easy.
Crimsonsnight – So, thank you for the time and energy you put into your reviews. I did read every one of them, I promise. There were interesting, flattering, uplifting and inspiring. But if I respond to each one of them individually, the next chapter will take a week longer. So instead, I will hit the high points. I try to write from life, and we're molded as people by what happens to us, so that is how I mold my characters. I work really hard at not being cheesy, but sometimes I can't resist a little melted Velveeta on my elbow mac. "Already a different universe?" Dang. I was hoping to grow Raven organically. I probably went too fast. Sorry. Yeah – For most animals, scent is the most important sense, and for Changeling it gives him a unique perception of Raven. Nobody, not even Raven, knows that she has a hint of Brimstone in her scent. That's for him alone. Jane's not much older than the Titans, but she has a lot more Life Experience 'cause she doesn't spend her days and night keeping villains locked up. In chapter 25 she was WORSE than before she started trying to let her emotions out. She was so focused on not zapping her date that she shut down ALL of her feelings in the process. Which she was told NEVER to do. The nightmares chapter was my favorite. Cyborgs abuse of Garth was for Cyborg's benefit. It didn't affect Garth because Cyborg was unwilling to damage him before a fight in which he would be needed, and Garth knew that. I'm glad you like my treatment of Nevermore. I'm trying to put a different spin on it.
TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne - If Garfield had gotten drunk on a trip to Vegas and slept with a stranger, he might have not told her. But he knew, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that Starfire would be unable to conceal it.
Egg1 – I know. I did move really fast in separating the team. But I couldn't face chapter after chapter of them drifting slowly apart.
TW – I know. I can, like, trip over trash cans in real life. I can fix this. I just don't know if I can make it believable.
Shugokage – I considered emptying the Tower completely. But Vic OWNS it and Raven has no place else to go.
Guest (Chapter 38) – Maybe I'll write another lemon for the make-up sex.
Guest – (Chapter 2) Yeah, I know. My action scenes are weak. It's not my strong suit, mostly because I find them boring. The interesting parts are where people interact, not where asses get kicked.
Guest – (Chapter 23) I had great fun with the shoulder angels. I got the idea from a Titan's short.
Author's Notes:
Well, judging from the commentary, the last chapter went over better than I thought it would. It wasn't a particularly fun chapter to write, but as I've already mentioned in a number of the Shout Outs, we can't have Dramatic Tension without conflict. And I've already given both Raven and Garfield near-fatal wounds. So I had to do something different to separate them. Now I get to reunite them, and there will be make-up sex. In the short term, Rita is going to explain both the nature of men, and how malls are for teenagers, and where REAL women shop. Looking farther out, we're going to visit Blüdhaven and see how Nightwing's one-man war against organized crime shakes out. And there will be a visit to Tamaran, of course. Things aren't going very well there at all.
Jump City, CA:
Raven blinked her eyes, trying to adjust to the bright sunshine. She and Rita were halfway through the day, and halfway through working their way through the fashion district. True to her word, Rita had dragged Raven out of bed and thrown her in the shower bright and early. When Raven had headed toward the mall, Rita had raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are we, teenagers? Adult women don't shop in malls. We shop downtown."
Raven paused for thought at that. Somewhere along the line, people had stopped saying "Teen Titans" and began just saying, "Titans." Even Changeling, the youngest, was in his early twenties. Raven was slightly older, while Cyborg was almost thirty.
"Maybe," she thought, "it's time to grow up a little."
She looked at the mountain of retail goods stacked next to her and Rita. By mid-morning, Raven had given up trying to juggle the mountain of boxes and bags containing Rita's purchases and had begun generating a black energy disk that followed them from store to store like a silent Sherpa on an Everest expedition. She'd tried to explain to Rita that she very rarely wore street clothes, and now that she was no longer dating anyone, she'd even less need, but the older woman has simply waved her objections away with, "That's not the point," and dragging her off to another store. Raven had tried on skirts, pants, tops, dresses, "intimates," and just now, shoes. Raven had been making forays in to exploring her "girly" side, but did not get the big deal about shoes. Rita had been appalled when Raven had told her that she only needed six pairs of shoes, not counting the twenty pairs of elf boots she used for her fighting boots.
"I wonder," she thought, "If Cyborg would be willing to knock out one of my bedroom walls into the next room so that I could have more closet space?"
"Rita," said Raven as the waiter dropped off their salads, "What's the point of all this? How is it relevant?"
Rita bit into the Waldorf salad. "Well Raven, do you feel better?"
Raven opened her mouth to say, "Don't be ridiculous" and stopped herself.
"I – I do," she said, startled. "That makes no sense. Nothing changed."
Rita just smirked and applied herself to the salad. Raven sat grumpily.
"Women with their arms full of shopping bags have been a TV trope since the 50's. It's sexist, it's offensive, and I feel like someone has hacked my brain." Raven sat back grumpily.
The older woman rolled her eyes. "All right, my little Rationalist. Here's my theory. Back during pre-history, while the boys were out trying to kill mammoths with pointed sticks, our job was to slip out of the cave during daylight hours and find fruit, nuts, and berries and tote them back to the cave before dark. It's in our nature to spend hours looking for something we're not sure we can find, and when we find it, to pile it up and take it home."
Raven looked at her suspiciously. "You're kidding."
"Okay – so try this one on for size. Why do women keep shopping after we've found what we're looking for?"
"Um," Raven replied, "because we might find something better?"
"Right. So a cave-woman searched the jungle, passing up fruit, nuts, and berries, but noting where they are. When the day is half done, she heads back. Remember, she has to get back to the cave before dark. Now she knows where to find everything, and how much she can carry, so she takes the best route back to the goodies, loads up, and heads home. She's wasted very little energy and has the pick of what she could find that day. Like our theoretical cave-woman, you experience a deep sense of satisfaction with your 'finds.'"
"That makes a disturbing amount of sense."
"Face it Raven," Rita said as she sipped her tea, "We're just genetically evolved to shop."
"Okay, now you're just yanking my chain."
"Maybe. Beware of 'Evolutionary Psychology' logic like that. It tends to reinforce stereotypes and traditional gender roles. Take it with a grain of salt. But anything that gives me a good reason to shop is okay by me."
The older woman finished her tea, pushed aside her plate and rose.
"And now," she said, "to the spa!"
Raven's eyes widened, but just then there was a sharp popping sound from just around the corner.
"Gunfire," said Raven as she streaked from her seat.
"Raven, wait!" said Rita, but the Titan was already in the air and moving down the street like an arrow from a bow.
Raven flashed down the street and into an open plaza where at least a half dozen masked men were finishing a gunfight outside of a bank. Three uniformed guards were down, and the men were piling into a panel truck. Raven's hand flashed out, and the doors to the truck were blocked by panels of dark energy.
"Stop!" she shouted, "You are all under arrest!"
The closest of the robbers turned to Raven and said, "Like hell," and opened fire. The other's followed suit, and a hail of bullets rained down on the solitary Titan. Raven immediately raised a shield of dark energy, and the bullets bounced away, but she immediately realized that the random bullets were placing bystanders in danger.
"Dammit," she thought, "Normally by this point Robin had thrown smoke grenades to block their vision, Starfire has hit two or three of them with starbolts, or Changeling has gone baboon and crawled all over a couple of them." Her hand hovered over her Titan communicator, but there was no point. There was no one to answer it but Cyborg, and by the time he could get here, it would all be over, one way or another.
"Crap," she muttered. "This working alone is going to take some getting used to."
Raven thought fast. She thought of any number of ways to resolve the problem, and quickly, but all of them involved injuries or fatalities.
Then the earth shook. Gently. Nearby, small, circular waves rippled in the fountain. A low, almost sub harmonic thump came again, and again.
"It's almost," thought Raven, "what Changeling sounds like in his T-rex form."
From behind Raven came a panicked scream, then a second one. She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw a palm tree that was peeking over the top of a four story building jolted, and then fell. More screams. Raven held her hand out, still deflecting incoming bullets while debating how to deal with whatever was coming around the corner at her.
The figure came around the corner. In the years she had known her, Rita had been "Garfield's mom." Somehow, Raven had never really integrated that person into the larger picture. Rita had another name: Elastigirl, and Elastigirl was living large. The earth shook as concrete cracked under her feet. At a height of fifty feet and weighing in at at least thirty or forty tons, Rita made quite an impression.
"THERE YOU ARE," boomed Rita's voice, above the shrill screams of the scattering group. "WHO'S THAT SHOOTING AT MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW?" The gunfire petered off to a stop.
Her enormous size made Rita appear slow and awkward, but there was nothing slow about the way she snatched the lead bank robber off of his feet.
"DROP IT," she said, "OR MY FINGERS MIGHT SLIP. AND THAT WOULD BE MESSY."
The man's gun fell about fifty feet to the ground. The others in his crew just stared.
"WELL GENTLEMEN," she said, "DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND LIE DOWN ON THE GROUND. REALLY. DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE."
When the police arrived, Rita was standing over the bad guys, who lay quietly in the gutter, hands outstretched, and faces to the concrete. Nobody, but nobody, wanted to be accused of trying to look up Elastagirl's skirt.
Later, both women lay side by side in body wraps, slices of cucumbers over their eyes.
"Raven," said Rita, "I know the 'daughter-in-law' comment was presumptive. You aren't with my son any more. But, well, I needed them to stop shooting before they hurt somebody."
"It's okay," Raven replied, "I'm just glad you were there. I couldn't think of a way to contain them without killing them."
"I'm glad I could help."
"I've been in what Garfield calls the 'hero-biz' for over seven years, but it's all been as part of a team. I don't have much experience with no one to watch my back."
"You'll work your way through it. You're a bright girl. It won't take you long."
It was later, at the spa that Raven had to admit it. She did feel better. She had been steamed, massaged, manicured, pedicured, and shampooed within an inch of her life. It was almost a meditative experience. She currently lay on a spa table, sans clothes, but wrapped from neck to ankles in seaweed, a mask of purple mud on her face, with cucumber slices over her eyes.
She spoke, "Rita, I need to know something. I've never been through anything like this before."
"Well, the seaweed wrap is to soften and strengthen our skin and to help detoxify our metabolisms. The face mask is to provide nourishment for the skin and clean and smooth the face. I think that the cucumbers are just to make us look silly."
"No, I mean – has Steve ever been unfaithful to you?"
Rita paused. "Are you sure you're ready to have this conversation?"
There was silence in the room. Then, "I think so."
"If you're sure. You're moving fast. All right Raven. But this calls for eye contact and patting you on the knee from time to time. Let's get out of this stuff and find some ice cream."
Later, in a quiet café, Raven pinned Rita down. "So – has Steve ever cheated on you?"
Rita sighed. "We're a bad example, Raven. Steve has had the opposite problem. For a long time he was obsessed with me. So no, not as far as I know. But Steve's not normal."
"But," she continued, "Before Steve, before my . . . accident, I was in the movies. And let me tell you, I had an active, passionate love life."
Rita's eyes got far away for a moment. She murmured under her breath. "Errol Flynn had a washboard stomach. And Bogie was taller than everybody thought he was."
Then her eyes cleared. She looked over at Raven. "I learned a lot about men in those days. They're simpler than most women imagine, but so very different from us that they seem really complicated."
Raven raised an eyebrow.
"I don't have any details on what happened between my son and your friend. You've said he cheated on you. He wouldn't discuss it with me. So I'm guessing he slept with her, you're hurt beyond being able to express it, and he's so ashamed of himself he's gone to hide in Los Angeles."
"That's . . . actually pretty accurate."
"So you haven't talked to him since is big dramatic reveal?"
"Well," Raven supplied, "not really, no."
"So you didn't ask him why, or what the circumstances were."
"I didn't think it was relevant. I mean, he did it, and he admitted it."
"So, you didn't 'catch him,' or have to be told by friends or family. He came right to you."
"Pretty much."
"Okay Raven, here's the hard truth. Most men will accept sex if it's offered. The good ones feel badly afterwards. They also work to not get in situations where it will be offered if they've got no business accepting it. I'm not saying they get a pass. We've all got to own our choices. But if you hold out for a man who never makes mistakes like this, well . . . you may be waiting a very long time."
"I find that very hard to believe."
"I'm not going to try to explain it. I don't understand it myself. But men and women are different, and different doesn't mean better or worse. But men's brains are physically different from women's. Take a dozen brains and any competent anatomist can sort them by gender. If we're physically that different, how can we help but think different?"
"What about Starfire?"
"I don't know what to tell you there. If she was a fellow American, I could say some things, maybe. But she's not just from a different culture. She's a different species. There is one thing though."
"What," asked the younger woman.
"Like I said before: there are only about 5000 meta-humans on the planet. You need all the friends, or at least positive relationships you can get in a small town like that. Plus, you had a friendship of almost ten years. It seems a shame to just trash that without at least talking to her."
Raven paused. It was real hard to consider. Just the thought made her stomach burn. But still . . . .
"I . . . don't have many friends. I'll think about it. But there's not much point, anyway. She's gone back to Tamaran."
They sat in silence for a moment. Rita sipped her coffee.
"Rita," said Raven suddenly, and without thought, "Did you ever cheat on Steve?"
When thinking of this moment years later, Raven's first impress was always, "Wow. Only Rita could make a spit-take look elegant."
Rita took the linen napkin and carefully wiped her lips, then signaled the waiter for more napkins to clean the coffee from the table top. Raven, who had seen what was coming, had raised a tiny shield of dark energy. Her shopping outfit remained, happily, coffee free.
"I'm sorry," said Raven. "That's none of my business. I just . . . ."
"No dear. It's a perfectly reasonable question that would follow from the conversation. I should have been expecting it. And no," Rita said firmly. I have never cheated."
There was a long pause. Raven opened her mouth the apologize again, and Rita over-rode her.
"Not on Steve."
Raven closed her mouth.
"I'm going to ask you for some discretion. Everybody who was involved but me is gone, now. But their children are still alive, and if this hits print, it might still hurt some feelings. He was married, and I was engaged. I had been paired up with Don O'Connor. We'd first worked together as kids, and then became romantically involved when we were around, I don't know, twenty or so. Don was a really nice guy, funny, and fun to be around. We had good chemistry on screen and off, and I thought I was in love. Maybe I was. But then there was Frank. I first heard Frank sing in 1938. All the girls were fainting over "Frankie." Including me. We didn't meet until 1943. He was far too old for me, but I wanted him. I mean, I really, really wanted him. And then we worked together on "Moonlight in Egypt." I was just in a supporting part in the film, but we shot on location in the ruins near Luxor. Neither his wife, Nancy Barbato, nor Don came along. She hated the heat and Don was working a different picture at the time. You know, the nights on the desert in Egypt are unbelievably romantic in the winter."
"You didn't."
Rita's eyes got very, very far away as she looked into the distant past. "Oh, I did. Sometimes it was like I wasn't even me. I was watching myself act like that. But I really wanted him. So I let him know sex was available. And like most men, he accepted it. At the end of the shoot, the last night in Egypt, he broke it off. He told me that what was okay under the desert moon was not going to be okay in Los Angeles, and that if I was a good sport about it, he'd make sure all the directors knew that I was easy to work with and give me a leg up on my career."
"But if you weren't, he would submarine you?"
Rita smiled gently. "I don't know what you mean by 'submarine,' but I suspect I've got the idea. No, actually, he never threatened me in any way. I wasn't happy, of course, but he'd not lied to me. He never told me he loved me. He never made me any promises, and, in fact, he only promised me the nights. It was clear from the beginning that it was all physical for him. Looking back, I can see now that it was similar for me. He was just so . . . manly. Large and in charge. And he did my reputation as an actress a lot of good. I worked with him three or four more times, and I did get the 'leg up' he promised me. But intimately, we only ever had those short weeks on the far side of the world."
Rita shivered. "I'm not proud of what I did Raven. I've never told another soul, and I don't think that Frank did, either. But you know what? It's also one of my most cherished memories, and as the years roll by, I think if it often. At the same time, if the wrong person had found out at the wrong time? Disaster. I did something really stupid and irrational, and I got away with it. People do that."
Kid Flash and Jinx arrived the next day. Rita watched, concerned for a couple of days, but Jinx and KF were past the goo-goo eyes stage and didn't accidentally pour any salt in Raven's wounds. After one more day, Rita took her leave.
"I'm just an old lady," she said, "And living in a house with four high-energy young people makes me exhausted. Plus, Mento, Negative Man, and Robot Man have probably been smoking all over the Doom Patrol headquarters. If I don't go home soon, I'll never get the smell of stale cigars out of the upholstery."
