Hello my dear readers, Foamy here! As some of the other authors may have noticed, FF has been having more issues lately and I had quite the time getting to where i could upload my stories. Now, i know these are a few days late, with it being 2021 now, but its okay. This is a 3 chapter drop, so there's plenty to entertain you with! This chapter is a tad on the short side, but the following chapters are longer to make up for it.


"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Squish.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Squish squish.

"Azarath Metrion Zin-"

Squish squish squish.

A sigh. "Are you having fun?"

"Yes and no."

"….explain."

"Yes, because, well, this is fun." Garfield said as he squeezed her butt again. "And no because I'm hungry and a little bored."

"So your solution is to grope my butt while I meditate?" Raven asked with another sigh.

"To my knowledge, this isn't breaking any rules." He replied cheekily.

Raven sighed yet again, but it was exaggerated. She really didn't mind his hands on her bottom anymore, but she did need to meditate. But she also didn't want him to stop either, sooooo….

It was a weird conflict.

Five days that had passed since raiding Slade's base and, thankfully, very little had happened. The only crime related things to happen were a high speed chase and a gang-related shoot out, both of which had taken less than thirty minutes each to deal with. It was pretty nice to get to relax for a couple of days, even if there was still a few issues looming on the horizon.

The first and foremost problem was dealing with Doctor Register. They really just didn't know what to do with him. The Tower quarantine room wasn't really suited for long term stay (not that they wanted someone so dangerous there) and Mento was still absolutely livid that the so-called beyond top secret prison had been broken into. There had been talk of a place called Belle Reve, but Batman had shot that down as the words left Robin's mouth.

I will not put a man like Samuel Register under that woman's control. He had said. It's already bad enough that we had to put Deathstroke in there instead of Arkham.

Even with the digging Cyborg and Robin did, they couldn't find any information related to a woman running the facility, which meant it really was one of those things that was above their pay grade, as the Flash had jokingly put it. Both irksome and worrisome, they let it rest and once again began poking about for a reasonable place to incarcerate the errant doctor.

Raven's next problem was dealing with Rose. She had more or less moved into Eddie's room, which meant Raven was seeing her every day.

Every. Single. Day.

Hence the meditation.

Aggravating as the girls constant flirtations and innuendos were, Raven had noticed that several things about Rose had changed over the past few days as well. She was basically attached at the hip to Eddie, which was reasonable. However, their exchanges, as Raven called it, tended to be churlish, yet tender. It was nonsensical to the empath. How could someone be so mean yet so loving? If Rose said something borderline abusive Raven could still feel the love she had for Eddie in her words and he too seemed to feel it. Granted, his own temper seemed to bounce right off his girlfriend as if she were made of rubber…

They were, in Raven's opinion, weird. Anger wasn't actually a personality trait and abrasiveness wasn't particularly attractive…and yet here they were, living it up like it was natural.

She didn't understand them and wasn't sure if she wanted to.

Then again, she had her own problems to deal with…

Well, problems wasn't an accurate term. Situation was a better word. After all, her boyfriend wasn't doing anything wrong per say. He was just being…very affectionate. Kinda handsy. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She liked the cuddles. And kisses. And the hand holding. And the head kisses. And, well…all of it. Though she didn't physically show it much, Raven was actually riding on a perpetual high off of Garfield's emotions.

This, however, tended to make one of Raven's emotions rather…vocal. Desire was just being the emotion that made up its existence but damn, she needed to chill out sometimes. Raven still wasn't used to having nighttime fantasies and waking up craving Garfield could be a bit overwhelming some mornings.

Raven knew Desire had gotten worse simply because Rose and Eddie were very sexually active and the empath had yet to find any magical wards to block their room off from her powers. But she couldn't bring herself to be upset with them. After everything they'd been through they did deserve their happiness…

And condoms. Lots of condoms, apparently.

Raven regretted helping Cyborg install the incinerator. She had seen things she didn't need to see when dumping trash. Ever.

"Behave for five more minutes and we'll go get food." She told him, swatting his hand away.

"Okay okay." He chuckled, scooting over to Emelia. The little girl, though ecstatic that her adopted parents were returning to their normal selves, was totally absorbed in a book, Charlotte's Web.

Raven eyed them as she resumed meditating. Emelia didn't seem to have been affected much by the past week other than worrying, for which Raven was grateful. She didn't want to psychologically assess her on top of all the other people she had to do but she would if it was necessary. But then again, she didn't flinch the slightest when Garfield picked her up and set her in his lap. Her eyes were glued to the book and her lips moved as she quietly sounded out a word Raven couldn't hear.

Garfield was, yet again, another story. He seemed to be okay, almost like he was before their recent encounter with Slade. But that wasn't an entirely accurate assessment either. He was a little quieter now, more internally reflective. It was a little…eerie.

He has always been reflective, but the majority of those moments slipped between the cracks in our friendship. Knowledge murmured. But now I am aware of his traumatization and he knows that I know. If anything, he turns inward to consolidate his thoughts to prepare himself to our talk.

Relationships are complicated. Rude complained.

Shaddup. Love, Affection, Jealousy, and Timid snapped. It's totally worth it!

Be calm. Raven ordered her emotions.

And so they were. Her meditation was peaceful after that.

At exactly the five minute mark did she receive a poke in her butt. She opened one eye and half glared at her boyfriend, who smiled cheekily. The poke in her other butt cheek made her turn and look to see Emelia smiling innocently up at her.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" She said sweetly.

Raven sighed and floated off the bed, hearing a quiet yes! behind her and a high five. She rolled her eyes. Did they really need her to go with them to get food?


"So, what do you think?"

The voice of Aqualad drew Raven and Garfield's attention as they entered the common room with Emelia, the little girl swinging between them without a care in the world.

The Atlantean was on the main computer screen, along with Mento in another frame and a picture of some small islands in an ocean (judging from the coconut trees, at least).

"To my knowledge the Palmyra Atoll was protected by the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. government." Robin said. "So this is news to me."

"Dude, you and Star gonna vacay on a tropical island?" Garfield called out, eyebrow raised. "Thought y'all wanted somewhere cold?"

Robin shook his head. "Actually, this is for Zookeeper."

Both Raven and Garfield stopped dead in their tracks and stared at their team leader.

Robin shook his head again. "Not like that. There's apparently an Atlantean black site prison directly underneath these islands."

The couple looked to Aqualad, who shrugged.

"Hey, first time I heard about it myself. But Aquaman offered it since Zookeeper is dangerous to even us. It's our most remote prison that I know of now. Very low population too, so less risk of contamination."

"How black site is it?" Robin asked. "The one Zookeeper just got out of was supposed to be top notch and he still got out. Speaking of which, Mento…?"

The older hero scowled. "NATO still isn't admitting anything, but an old friend of mine confirmed that they're freaking out over someone breaking into it. Worse still, Vandal Savage was in there and escaped too."

"Great, the original Get off my grass! old man is loose again." Garfield said sarcastically. Raven choked back a laugh.

"Aquaman said he didn't even know about the atoll until yesterday and he's, you know, the KING."

"Politics." Mento spat. "That isn't all either. Apparently-" He said this with no small amount of venom, "-Deathstroke butchered his way into the facility where the Brotherhood of Evil was frozen and set them free. Rouge has escaped from that other prison before, so she had to be the one who took him there to get Zookeeper. NATO knew Slade had freed the Brotherhood the day after it happened but didn't know about the mountain break-in until the day I called them. Fucking USELESS!"

"Language, Mento." Raven said sharply.

"Sorry."

"Well, it's our best option then, particularly if the surface governments have no idea about it." Robin decided. "The less people who know, the better."

"Agreed." Mento nodded. "The Doom Patrol will come pick him up and fly him to the Palmyra Atoll."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Our ship is more than capable of doing it and was literally originally a submarine."

"I understand that Robin, but it's better for the Doom Patrol to take care of this."

"Why's that?" Garfield asked.

Mento looked at him for a good long moment. Raven knew he was weighing his words carefully, particularly since she had passed along to him the news of Garfield's mental breakdown.

"Well, son, it's really Doom Patrol business. We captured him the first time when he came for you, we secured his prison, and I installed the power nullifiers that kept him there. It's on us to at least contribute in the mess he's in now." Mento said carefully. "Given his history with you, he's really more of one of our enemies than the Titans, at least to us. So, we should take responsibility for him."

Beast Boy stared back at his first mentor, his adopted father, for a moment before he gave a little shrug.

"Alright." He said plainly. "I don't even want to look at the dude."

"Settled, we'll be there in a while and will contact Aqualad when we leave!" Mento said before cutting the line before Robin could speak.

The Boy Wonder sighed. He'd been getting cut off and interrupted a lot lately.

"At least tell me more about this prison." He said to Aqualad, who launched into further detail immediately.

Raven shook her head the three of them made their way into the kitchen proper. As Garfield set Emelia at the table, Raven began to rummage for food. Knowing her two clowns, she settled for something simple: sandwiches.

It didn't take long for Garfield to join her, though he made his own. Raven took a garlic herb and cheese baguette and sliced it down the middle, intent on making for food the same way she got it at Subway.

A pizza sub, with thirty two slices of pepperoni neatly arranged on the bread with a modest amount of sauce, followed by shredded cheddar cheese and then toasted. She topped it off with lettuce, cucumber slices, and spinach leaves afterwards.

She wasn't going to eat it all, of course. Half of it was for Emelia.

"So weird." Garfield muttered as her cacophony was finished. She rolled her eyes. His tofu, gummy worm, lettuce, and tomato sandwich wasn't even the slightest bit appealing.

At least his appetite has returned. Timid murmured. Raven silently agreed.

They sat at the table, quietly munching on their lunch as Raven's mind wandered once more. She had a lot to think about, but it was about time she started doing things instead of just thinking of them. There were plenty of loose ends to tie up, but she wasn't sure where to start.

At least not until something angry made its way into the tower.

Raven knew who it was but didn't know why she was angry. Rose was pissed off about something or another (which wasn't uncommon) but there was something in her anger that wasn't normal. It felt like it was being directed broadly.

Hopefully she keeps it to herself. Rude huffed.

Raven could feel her friend making her way up the elevator, then towards the common room. Whatever it was was about to be very public.

Or so Raven thought.

Rose didn't actually say anything when she came in. She didn't slam the refrigerator shut as she got a sports drink, didn't slam any drawers or cabinets as she got out a spoon and peanut butter, didn't do anything to suggest she was angry. She just brooded off to the side, not even looking at anyone as she quietly ate.

I'm not sticking my nose into that. Rude said firmly.

Yes I aaaammmmm! Affection tittered.

Whhhhhhhyyyy?!

Because I do care about her mental well being, aaaannnnd I don't want it to grow into something that would get Emelia's attention.

Raven sighed quietly to herself, eliciting questioning looks from her boyfriend and daughter.

"What's wrong Rose?" She asked, turning.

Rose raised her eyebrow. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

Raven raised an eyebrow back at her.

"What? You're assuming that-" Rose stopped and made a face. "Oh, right. Empath."

"Mhmm."

Rose took a moment to eat another spoonful of peanut butter before answering. "I was denied tubal ligation today for some pretty bullshit reasons."

"You were denied what?" Garfield asked as Raven raised an eyebrow higher.

"Google it." Rose grunted.

Garfield frowned and pulled out his phone. Raven, on the other hand, teleported a medical dictionary into her hand and flipped to the T's. She found and read it just as Garfield found and read it on his phone.

"Ohhhh, getting yer tubes tied huh?" Garfield nodded. "Yeah, I know what that is. But why…?"

"That's a pretty dumbass question, even for you." Rose snapped at him. The changeling stuck his tongue out at her.

Raven wasn't listening to them at all. This was the first time she'd read up on tubal ligation and it was…interesting.

"So…it's a contraceptive. An anti-pregnancy procedure." Raven said as she finished rereading.

"Well duh." Rose snorted. "How could you not know that?"

"I know a lot of things about a lot of things, but not everything." Raven teleported the book away and it was replaced with another. She was having ideas.

"The All Mighty Wizard of Oz doesn't know what she can have done to her own body? Well, that's a shocker."

Raven ignored the sarcasm as she used her powers to absorb the contents of the book into her mind. Closing her eyes, she reviewed it all at a speed which only Cyborg could match.

"I see." She snapped the book shut so loudly that even Robin and Aqualad looked their way.

"What?" Rose asked as Raven turned her attention to her. The empath held out her hands as if pinching something and Rose jumped in her seat.

She made a really weird face and a really weird noise as Raven moved her hands around, which also made Rose wriggle. When Raven was done waving her hands, she went back to her sandwich.

"Raven, what the fuck did you just do?" Rose asked a moment later, holding her lower abdomen. It felt weird.

"Tied your tubes." Raven replied through a mouthful of food. Everyone stared at Raven, especially Rose.

"You…what?" The dumbfounded former assassin said slowly.

"In technical terms, I telekinetically reached into your body, grabbed your fallopian tubes, and tied them into knots. Which, yes, I can undo at any time." Raven bit down into a particularly crunchy piece of cucumber and savored the flavor as it meshed with pepperoni and cheese. She really needed to thank Cyborg for introducing her to this sandwich, it was so good.

"You…what?"

Garfield and Robin both chuckled as Aqualad shook his head. Emelia, who had no idea what a fallopian tube was, quietly resumed eating.

"That will be three weeks of no sexual harassment, thank you very much." Raven said smugly.

Rose was still staring at her stupidly when they left a few minutes later.

"Man, you really did a number on her." Garfield chuckled. "I didn't even know you could do that."

"Well, I do have an extensive knowledge of the human body, which I need to know to properly use my empathic healing. Telekinetics is my go-to, so it was pretty simple to do once I connected all the dots." Raven shrugged.

"Have I ever told you how amazing you are?" Garfield chuckled.

"No, but I wouldn't say I'm opposed to hearing it."

"Raven!"

The trio stopped, Emelia still swinging, and looked back to Rose in the far doorway.

"Did…did you really just…?" She asked in awe.

"Yes." Raven replied simply before a smirk found its way on her face. "You just saved a bunch on condoms by switching to Raven-surance."

"Well, you and I wouldn't need condoms anyways." Rose clapped back, but considerably less flirty than usual. Raven rolled her eyes.

"We're having a nice moment here, don't ruin it." She complained.

Rose gave her half a smile. "I know, couldn't help myself. But…thanks Raven. For real."

"You're welcome Rose." Raven nodded and pulled her boyfriend and daughter away. They had other things to do today.


"Well well well. We meet again Doctor Register."

The aforementioned man looked up from the sudoku puzzle book Cyborg had given him and found a very familiar and very unwanted black and purple clad man standing outside the window.

"Mento." He said, grimacing. This was not going to end well.

"I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there." Mento said as he slipped on a mask. "If you utter so much as a single word, I will fry your brain."

Behind him Robin frowned. "There's no need for that Mento, he's easily restrained and Raven has his powers turned off."

"Let's call it principle." Mento said as he got the power nullification handcuffs ready.

"I'm getting really tired of hearing that." Robin grumbled as he slipped a mask on. Beside him, Robotman chuckled.

"Steve's just cranky about how shit hit the fan without him knowin'." The elder hero explained, slipping a mask on too.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Not to be rude, Robotman, but why do you need a mask?"

"I might be just a brain in a metal body, but I still have to take in oxygen." Cliff tapped his head. "If that sakutia crap gets in there, to the only living tissue I have, I'm done for real quick."

Robin frowned. He needed to get to know the Doom Patrol better so that he wasn't ignorant of their conditions.

"Sorry, didn't know." He said, wondering if he had offended Robotman, who actually just shrugged.

"It's not public knowledge." He said before moving help Mento. Robin's frown deepened for a moment as he contemplated-

Bona to vada!

He stared at the words, written on a brick hanging from twine that was slung over Robotmans's shoulder and sitting on his back. Given their height difference, it was understandable that he hadn't noticed it before. But…why?

Don't worry, I'm fine.

Robin blinked. He rubbed his eyes under his mask. Was he having a stress hallucination or did that brick just…

Mento opened the door and tossed Register his respirator. Robin moved his attention to the man, who very cooperatively put his mask on and stood near the door. Judging from his body language, he was rather apprehensive.

There was no incident, however. It was a very calm(?) transition from room to room, from hallway to landing pad. Nobody spoke and for once Robin thought it was okay. He pondered if Cyborg's and Fixit's sterilization robots were already at work everywhere they had escorted Zookeeper through…

It was nice meeting you!

Robin stared at the brick on Robotman's back as the door to the Doom Jet shut.

"I need a vacation." He muttered as he watched the Doom Patrol leave.


He seems nice.

"He's a good kid and a fine leader." Mento said as he stood watch over their prisoner.

When do I get to meet Beast Boy?

"We'll introduce ya next time we go to the tower." Robotman chuckled. "Not really a good time right now Danny, too much stuff going on."

That's fair.

"Aaaaannd we are clear of Jump City." Elastigirl called back from the cockpit. Beside her, Negative Man peered out the window.

Mento turned and looked at Zookeeper. "Do you remember what I told you would happen if you went near my son again?"

Despite the situation, Register sneered. "Your son. Only a bunch of freaks like you would claim him as their child."

"You're right." Mento said grimly. "We do claim him. Hold his head, Cliff, I don't wanna break his mask."

Robotman pounced with surprised speed, snatching Register up and twisting him to face the very irate head of the Doom Patrol.

Mento sank his fist into Register's stomach, knocking the air out of him, then his knee came up and smashed into his testicles. The former doctor could only wheeze out a cry of pain before Mento hit him again.

"Steve, don't break him before my turn." Rita called back.

"I won't, honey, promise." Mento called back.

Register knew, in a retrospective way, that he should have never accepted Slade's offer. The minute amount of time he got fighting Garfield wasn't worth experiencing this again.

He wondered if Garfield knew just how violent the Doom Patrol was behind closed doors…


"Gar?"

"Yeah Rae?"

"Are you okay with this?"

"Huh?"

"I mean…not seeing Zookeeper off."

Garfield looked out to the playground, where Emelia was figuring out the quickest way to the top of the monkey bars. He thought about what Raven asked for a good minute before he answered her.

"Yeah." He said simply. "The dude was just…a horrible piece of my life. He blamed me for something I did as a kid, something I don't even remember, and used that as a justification to murder hundreds of people to draw the Doom Patrol out just to try to kill me."

Raven looked to her boyfriend, eyes wide. That wasn't what she had been expecting to hear.

"Yeah, I know." He said, rubbing his face. There for a moment he looked so tired, so world weary, that Raven wasn't sure if she was looking at the ever-cheery Beast Boy. "A lot of people died. I couldn't save them, just like I couldn't save my parents."

"Be that as it may," Raven said slowly, thoughtfully, "You have saved hundreds of lives since then. You have saved the world from Trigon-"

"You did that, Rae." He interrupted her.

"Directly, yes. But if you and Cyborg and Starfire hadn't of held my father's attention then Robin wouldn't have been able to save me. You fought back against him in ways that very few have ever done. And you survived, which is an outstanding accomplishment for Trigon's foes."

"Well…yeah. That's what heroes do, Rae. We fight evil."

"Exactly my point. Even if you get knocked down, beaten up, and trampled on, you keep getting back up and doing better than you did before." She nudged his shoulder with her own. "There are dozens of incidents that just prove that over and over again."

"Well…yeah, I guess you're right." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I know I am." She kissed his cheek. "It's okay to grieve for those you couldn't save, Gar. I know I do for those in Azarath that died defying my father. And I know Starfire does for those on Tamaran caught in that centuries long war."

"But." She said after a moment of silence. "You can't let it control you either. You can't drown yourself in those negative feelings and just let them stagnate in your heart. And…you can't just bottle them up and shove them to the side. You need to come to terms with them, overcome them, and move forward with your life."

"Easier said than done Rae." Garfield said glumly. "Not everybody can just pop into their mind for a quick meeting with their emotions and toddle off when it's over."

"I know Gar. That's why I'm here to help you." Raven took his hand into her own and gave it a squeeze.

He looked down at their hands and ran his thumb across Raven's. This was an impossible dream some months ago and yet here he was now with Raven at his side.

"I love you Raven. I'm sorry for being a total downer so early in our relationship." He told her honestly. "I've spent a long time putting all my bad memories to the side and ignoring them and I really didn't think they'd catch up to me one day."

"It's alright Garfield. Falling in love with you meant I was willing to help you carry your baggage, like you would for me." She smiled at him and he felt the butterflies in his stomach just like the first time she smiled for him. "We're partners, mates, boyfriend and girlfriend, whatever term you want to use. We are together and that means more than the world to me since I honestly never thought I would find love."

"I've loved you since the day we met."

He didn't know why he said it, it just popped out. Raven raised an eyebrow and Garfield could feel his cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

"Well, maybe not love, but like, totally liked and stuff. Crushed for a while before it got to be more and…ya know. Love." He said sheepishly. He sounded like an idiot and he knew it.

"I was aware of your fluctuating affection, but I didn't think it went so far until Emelia came along." Raven admitted. "After she was here, I…started noticing things. Things that should have been obvious…things that made me think…and wonder…things that made me fall in love."

Garfield couldn't help but to chuckle. "Yeah, we were totally incompatible for the longest time. I knew that, so I didn't…ya know, bring it up. I pestered you enough as it was, I didn't want to make things…weird."

"There's never been anything normal in the tower." Raven smirked. "Especially the green dork running around annoying me all the time."

He smiled back at her. "I couldn't help it. Your smile was enchanting and all I wanted was to see you smile forever."

It caught Raven off guard and she blushed. Garfield laughed for what seemed to be the first time in forever and Raven couldn't help but to chuckle.

"I love you Garfield."

"I love you too Raven."

"You guys talk too much."

Both of them jumped in surprise, turning to see Emelia standing there, dirty and with twigs in her hair.

"What did you do, we only looked away for a minute!" Raven jumped up and began cleaning her off.

"I went to the moon, can't you tell?" The little girl said sarcastically.

Raven eyed her daughter sternly and Garfield burst out laughing again.


Far away and deep underground, a large shimmering portal opened. After a moment, a long and lean reptilian leg came through and set down on the ground.

Or at least it would have, if there was a floor left on this level of Slade's base.

With a roar of surprise did Malchior fall through, his wings going wide and slamming into rubble and the walls as he tumbled down into the darkness. He hit the floor hard, popping a wing out of socket as he rolled into a wall.

Disgruntled and confused, he got up and spat a word of power that filled the room with light. He saw the destruction and the destroyed robots. He could even smell the faint lingering stench of burned flesh in the air. There had been quite the battle here.

He took all this in and deduced that not only had Slade been defeated but his base had been ransacked too. That meant that his hybrids were undoubtedly destroyed in the process. He certainly wouldn't have left them alive.

Everything he had done had been done for nothing.

Again.

"I'm getting too old for this shrak." He grumbled.