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Thanks for the reviews, follows and favs.
Mal: No, Mal. Don't die. Come back.
Missyrod:Thank you for not passing up on my story. I think I have to go back and edit the first three to four chapters. And I have been wondering about Starfire lately too. You have a lot of questions that I can't answer. But two of your questions will be answer soon. Real soon. Hopefully within the five chapters. Although, the full extent of Raven's and Mari's secret will be revealed at the end. Bits and pieces will be seen throughout the story.
Jltvaughn: Thank you. I'm happy that you enjoy the chapter (blush). I wasn't sure if I could display all the emotions that I wanted during the chapter. And don't worry the angst will be back soon :) but with sweet moments.
Nightraethingzz: Thanks for reading. :)
Amamdakaylee79: Thanks, and the movie was awesome. I need to watch it again. It was so good.
Everyone: I hope that you all are staying safe and healthy. We are at the halfway point now. I want to end the story at chapter 50 or chapter 60, at the most. From here a lot of questions will be answered, and dots connected. The only new mysteries will be surrounding Raven and maybe a few with Cyborg.
I hope that you continue to enjoy. Thanks :)!
Sorry for the grammar.
#JusticeforGeorgeFloyd
Surprise, I know
Punch.
His fist connected with the right side of the robot before he jammed an elbow into its face.
Duck.
He avoided the sword by an inch and lowered to the floor.
Kick.
He kicked the robot off of his feet. He chopped the robot's wrist, causing it to drop the sword.
Kill.
He grabbed the sword and swing it at the robot's head. The head rolled on the ground. And the body fell on the floor, just like the other robots.
He was sweating. His breath was laborious. This training took a lot out of him. However, he was able to complete it with a new record.
"How was it?" He turned to the little boy, who was watching his training. The boy shook his head.
"That bad?" The boy nodded. He sighed, taking the seat next to the boy. The boy had been his only friend and confidant during his contact agreement. Even though, there was an age gap and other factors between them, the silent, yet entitled brat was his only companion in the building.
When the deal between him and the parties involve were completed, he hoped that he was able to take the boy with him. However, he highly doubted that he could. The boy was a highly prized possession around here. Plus, he couldn't afford to take care of the boy. He was too high maintenance.
He put the thought of taking the boy with him away. He had his own issues that he needed to focus on.
"Okay, what did I do wrong?" He turned to look at the boy, listening to the list of his flaws. He was impressed with the boy. He was truly a precocious child.
"How was his training, child?" They stood as the master mind behind this mission walked into the room.
The boy held up his head high and gave him a list of his accomplishments and flaws during the training. The list of flaws was extremely shorter than the one that he just gave. They boy always looked out for him. If things were different, maybe they could have been partners.
A Dynamic Duo.
"Do you think he is ready to go back?" The boy looked between them before answering that he was.
He shifted his weight. The boy was too generous.
"Good." The master mind turned to look at him. "Slade, don't fail me again."
"I won't."
"I know." The master mind turned to the small boy. "Come, child. We have training to do." They left him, and the silence was suffocating.
Raven smiled as she watched the person run off. He had promised her that he would come back with cake and ice cream for her. She had tried to stop him but he was gone before she could open her mouth.
"Should I be worry?" She looked to her left and watch Dick sit down beside her. "He has been talking to you since we got here."
"I don't know." She said, looking at the person, who was grabbing two plates from the table. "He is pretty attentive, and he is bringing me cake and ice cream when my own boyfriend forgot about me." She watched Dick take a bite out of his cake.
"This was for you." He said. "But I didn't want to hurt your new friend's feelings. After all, he is trying really hard." She turned to see the person walking back to the table slowly while trying to balance the plates in his hands. He dismissed anyone who offered him help.
"As for the attentive part," he whispered in her ears, causing her to shiver. "I prefer to do that when we are alone."
She blushed then coughed. "You mean, that four-minutes' worth of attention."
He chuckled. "That was only the first time, and I was still able to put you asleep. But if you think that I'm still lacking, then we can practice more." He coughed and pulled back when her new friend arrived at the table.
"Hey, little guy. Are you enjoying the party?" Dick asked.
They were at the birthday party of one of Dick's coworkers' daugther. It was one of the few coworkers that Dick had gotten along with, even when he was going through his rough time at the department. So, when he was asked to help set up and participate in the water dunk, he had said yes. And when he had asked her to join him, she said yes. It was nice being a couple around other people.
The young boy glared at him before smiling at her. "Miss Rachael," said the little boy. "I brought you some cake and ice cream."
"Thank you, Ben." She took the plate from the little boy and took a bite. "It's delicious. You are really a sweetheart." The little boy beamed at her. "Do you like your cake?" She asked when she notice that he wasn't really eating.
The boy looked down at his plate with a frown and mumbled, "I prefer vanilla, but I like chocolate if you like it."
She displayed a questionable look on her face. "Umm, I'll tell you a secret. I like chocolate cake as well."
"Really?"
"Really." The boy's smile widened. "Next time, when we go out on a date, I'll buy you a chocolate cake." She hit Dick under the table. He was doing a bad job at hiding his laughter with a cough.
"It might be a while," Ben continued. "My allowance is pretty low."
She smiled while taking a napkin to wipe his face. "I can wait."
"I-"
"Ben!" They turned to see a lady calling him with a child in her arms. "It's time to go home."
"But mom!"
"Ben, we have to go now."
"Mom-"
"Do you want me to walk you to the car?" Rachael cut in. The boy sighed before nodding sadly.
"Let's go." She stood with the boy and they walked to his mother, where he introduced her as his new girlfriend. Rachael politely explained who she was and who was her real boyfriend in a whisper so that Ben didn't hear. They walked to the car with Ben talking the whole time about the party.
"Bye, Rachael." He waved from inside of the car along with his sibling.
"Bye, Ben." His mother closed the door, separating them. They drove off.
"For a second, I thought that you ran off with him." She turned to see Dick walking toward her with party favors.
"I mean, the chocolate cake was pretty tempting."
He chuckled. "I guess, I need to step my game up if you are thinking about leaving me for someone else. Are you ready to go?"
She nodded. The party wasn't her style. There were too many kids and most of the adults were parents or married. Ben had been nice company since Dick was helping with the party and she wasn't a people person.
He shifted their party favors in one hand and grabbed hers. She glanced down and move closer toward him when she looked back up.
She liked that he was affectionate and that he wasn't over the top with it. He always respected her space, yet he let his presence be felt.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing. Just thinking about Ben and that chocolate cake."
"Really?" He stopped and tugged on her hands, causing her to turn and crash into him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her. "Are you still thinking about him?"
"I don't know. I love chocolate cake." He smirked and kissed her again.
"There are children around here," yelled a parent from the party. They pulled apart and sheepishly said sorry.
He grabbed her hand again, and they continued their trip to Dick's bike. They had left it a few blocks from the party.
"You know, you are pretty good with children." She didn't comment. She hadn't thought about them, now that it was an actual possibility.
"Do you want them?" She asked, causing him to glance at her for a second.
"It depends. There are many factors to think about, but in an ideal world, yes." She nodded and touched her stomached subconsciously. Could she see herself as a mom?
"But I'm okay with just being a family of two." He said. "Besides, I don't mind practicing for one."
She rolled her eyes. "I didn't know that you were this horny person." They stopped at his bike, and he placed their bags under the seat.
"I meant, practicing being a family of two." His eyes connected with her as she blushed and became speechless. "Until we decide what's next." He leaned in and whispered. "I'm not the horny person in this relationship. You are. But I am okay with that."
He placed a helmet on her head. "Let's go to the bookstore before it is time to go to the Tower."
She smiled as they got on the bike. She held on to him tight. She wasn't going to let him go.
Cyborg had been observing them all night. Nightwing and Raven had something going on with them. It wasn't a feeling. It was a concrete fact: They were dating.
His hand gripped his leg at the fact. A fact that he didn't like. His head reviewed the night that he found out.
He had lost the page to the file somewhere in the Tower. That was why he hated paper files. They were easy to misplace. Computer files were easier to store, save, and recover if needed.
However, that was why Nightwing preferred paper file. You couldn't recover it if it needed to be destroyed.
While that was true, paper files left room for other errors. His error was misplacement. He had searched the whole Tower for the paper but he couldn't find it. Now, he was observing the Tower's old footage to locate the paper. He hoped that it wasn't in the trash can.
After ten minutes of watching the videos, he saw himself with the paper. He was in the garage. He was reading the paper when Willow called. He had placed the paper on top of the file on top of the work bench and walked away.
A few minutes later, Changeling came in, reading lines. He was so focus on the papers in his hands that he didn't notice that he bumped into the bench, causing items to fall down. He put the papers on the bench and bended down to pick up the items. When he was finished, he recollected the papers along with his. He grabbed a hammer from the bench and walked out the room.
When he came back over from talking with Willow, he didn't notice a thing.
After he finished watching the video, he called Changeling.
"Hello," Retra answered the phone.
"Hi, Retra," He greeted. "This is Cyborg. Is Changeling there?"
"Yes. Hold on for a minute." He heard some giggling and shuffling while he waited.
"Hello," said Changeling.
"Yo, man. I think you got a paper of mine."
He giggled at something. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, you got a paper of mine."
"Oh, you mean, the paper with the computer data?" He giggled again and mumbled something that he couldn't hear.
"Yeah, that one."
"I noticed it today when I was reading lines. I was going to bring it tonight." He giggled. "Is that okay? If not, I can bring it now." He giggled again.
"No, just don't forget it tonight."
"Sure, no problem. See you later." Changeling hung up the phone.
Cyborg shook his head. He was happy that Changeling and Retra was in a better place. He could tell that they weren't in one before. However, he wished that Changeling had remained focus on their conversation.
Cyborg stood up, hitting a couple of buttons by accident.
"What do you want to talk about?" Cyborg heard Raven asked on the screen. It was the day that Nightwing handled him the folder and he had the conversation with Raven. Having no desire to listen to a private conversation, he moved to turn off the screen.
"Nothing." Nightwing said. "I just wanted to…"
His finger was a millimeter from the button when he saw Nightwing kissing Raven, who kissed him back. He saw red.
The video made him sick to his stomach. Nightwing and Raven. He wouldn't allow it. He couldn't
"Dude, are you okay? You have been tensed since training started." Tonight was another midnight training session. They were finished and was waiting for Nightwing to return back with the doughnuts.
"I'm fine." He looked at Raven, who was making tea. "Hey, do you mind playing by yourself? I need to talk to Rae about something." He didn't wait for an answer. He went to where Raven was standing.
"Hi," he said, watching her.
"Hi." She smiled.
"Soooo, how is everything going?"
She took a sip of her tea. "Good. How about you?"
"Good. Soooo, how is everything with you and your boyfriend?"
Her eyes traveled to Changeling, who was on his phone instead of playing the game. "Great," she whispered with a soft smile. "Things are going well between us."
"Great." He tried to return the smile. "So, are there any problems at all?"
"No."
"You know, if there is a problem, you can talk with me about it." He watched her watching him.
"I know. Plus, your last advice helped a lot."
He wished that he hadn't given her that advice and told her to dump him. "Great," he said and an awkward silent fell between them. He didn't know what to say. Rather, he had a lot to say but didn't know how to say it.
"Donuts!" They turned to see Nightwing strolling in the room with hot donuts.
Cyborg didn't know how to approach Raven, but he sure knew how to approach Nightwing.
Richard grabbed an ice pack from the mini fridge in his place. It was the fridge where he kept ice packs, medicines, and other medical equipment that needed to be cool or on ice. It was hidden away for legal purpose.
He went to the other fridge to grab a water bottle before sitting on the sofa. There, he opened the bottle to drink and tilted his head back to put the ice pack on his face. He closed his eyes and thought about the 'conversation' he had with Cyborg.
Nightwing's eyes lingered on Raven as she left the room. He would have followed her out if Cyborg hadn't wanted to speak with him. He hoped that the conversation wouldn't take long so that he could join her at home. He felt his lips lifted up slightly.
Home. That was what he was starting to associate the word with Raven: A place where is he was welcome, relax, and be himself with her. A place where love flow with her.
In the past couple of weeks, he had been thinking about asking her to move in together. They practically stayed together now. She always came over to his place to sleep, and they cooked dinner together. Well, he cooked and she taste-tested. They were still working to improve her cooking skills.
Nevertheless, the point was, he wanted to advance their relationship, maybe make it permanent. He wasn't sure yet, after all he had a long history when it came to relationships, but he knew that he didn't see an end to their relationship anytime soon. It hurt to think about it.
The door closed to the room, leaving him and Cyborg alone.
"What did you want-" He was pivoting on the ball of his feet to face him when a metal hand punched him in the face, causing him to fall. He caught himself on the counter and looked up at Cyborg.
"I hope that you are being hacked right now." Nightwing said. "Because that was a cheap shot."
"No, I'm not being hacked." Cyborg said with malice in his voice. "I'm very aware of what I am doing." He cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. He threw another punch at him, which he dodged.
"You want to tell me what this is about?" Nightwing moved across the room, blocking and dodging his friend's attacks.
He didn't understand where Cyborg's aggression was coming from. He hadn't made Cyborg this angry to use his fists since they were teenagers.
"You are the worst," roared Cyborg as he landed a punch. "You come in here and do whatever you want. You think that everything and everyone on the team is yours."
Nightwing couldn't comprehend the meaning of Cyborg's words. He tried to think about all that he could have done to cause his anger. He was coming up blank as he maneuvered around Cyborg punches. He didn't want to fight back, because that would only fuel Cyborg's anger. Besides, he wasn't sure if he wasn't in the wrong.
"I'm not understanding. Maybe, if you tell me what I did, we can work this out." Nightwing suggested.
"One more punch than we can stop and talk."
"I'm not letting you hit me." He dodged a fist.
"Fine. I didn't want it to be that easy anyways." He swung again and missed.
"This is ridiculous."
"You and Raven being together is ridiculous."
Nightwing paused to register Cyborg's words, causing him to get punch in the stomach. He clutched his stomach and fell on his knees. That was a powerful punch.
"You know?" He said.
"Yeah, I know." His friend answered, standing over him. "And I also know that you don't deserve her. Break up with her before you break her heart." He walked away. "I'm done now." Cyborg exited the room.
He pushed the ice pack closer on his face. He knew that everyone wouldn't be excited about the relationship, but he didn't think that he would get punch in the face.
He sighed, thinking about Cyborg's words. He didn't think that Cyborg thought so little of him. He never reacted this way when he was dating Starfire. Why now with Raven?
His eyes popped open. He heard it before he saw a small marble rolling on the floor. He dropped the ice pack and flipped across the sofa. He slipped behind the counter before it exploded. It was a smoke bomb.
He quickly pulled open a drawer to grab some weapons. Or at least he tried to. A foot came toward his face. He blocked it and used his leg and foot to swipe at the attacker's other leg. He missed. The attacker jumped back, giving him a chance to stand up. With his weapons.
He swung his feet, which the attacker blocked. The attacker threw a kick but he blocked it before he landed a punched in the person's side. The attacker threw a punched. Dick side stepped it and grabbed the person's wrist and toss him over the counter.
He used that moment away from his attacker to push the button to clear the smoke from the room. When it cleared, he saw Slade. Then anger set in.
He rushed to attack Slade, leaping over the island counter. Every punch he threw connected. Every kicked he made landed. Every attack he initiated he finished.
Slade didn't stand a chance. And he would have crushed Slade if Rachael's ring tone hadn't distracted him for a moment, allowing Slade to escape.
He wanted to follow him, but he needed to warn the others, especially Rachael.
He picked up the phone. He was breathing heavily. "Get to the Tower now." He spoke before she could talk. "I was just attack by Slade."
He was trying to catch his breath as he took off his mask. The attack hadn't gone as plan. His head was going to roll once he got back to base.
He looked down at his damaged body. It was starting to heal. Every cut, bruise, and broken bone would be restored in under an hour. This new ability was the reason why he was able to heal from the twins' attacks so quickly.
He didn't understand why this was happening to him. Was this an after effect of what he had gone through? Or was it something else? He didn't know the answer, or who to turn to for them, or where to begin looking for them. Then again, he didn't have time to go looking for them if he had wanted to.
He signed and leaned his head back against the brick structure on the roof. He planned to rest where he was until he was healed. He didn't want the others to see how badly he was beaten. Besides, staring at the bar below relaxed him. It was his favorite thing to do when he had free time.
