Chapter 3 of Fearless is up! Thanks for all the comments guys, makes me
feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Or something. Anyway, sorry for the slight
delay on this one, I haven't been home in a couple of days, but now I'm
back and so is the awkward position I left R&R in back in the last chapter!
As Robin slowly started to open his eyes, he smiled at Raven, the love of his life. Unfortunately, when he opened his eyes, he saw that the smile was not being returned.
"...uhm...Rae? Something wrong?"
Raven glared at the boy wonder, her eyes drilling holes through him. She couldn't believe it. She had just given herself to Robin, body and soul, resulting in the most passionate night of her young life and this was what she got from it.
"Yes, Robin. Something IS wrong. You just called me "Star". Want to explain yourself?"
Robin rested his face in his hand and stared at his girlfriend. 'WHAT did she just say? I did WHAT?' "Rae...what are you talking about?"
"Just now. I said 'Morning, Wonder Boy' and you said 'Morning STAR'." Raven wasn't raising her voice, but her tone had become icy and hard.
Robin groaned. "Awh...Raven...come on. It was just a slip of the tongue! I'm sorry! It's not like I meant anything by it."
"Then why would you say it?"
"It was just out of habit! I was with Star for a year, I said it a lot! Come on, Rae, this isn't a big deal. It's not like I'd call you her name while we were...you know... I was just tired. Last night was...incredible. I've never been this exhausted in my whole life, I was barely awake, and I mumbled the wrong thing. My brain wasn't even awake yet, so it's not like I was thinking about her or anything."
Raven smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. I'm just not really...used to this kind of thing Robin. You're the first person I've ever been with, I guess I still feel kinda...vulnerable sometimes." She sighed, and laid back down in bed. "Lets just go back to sleep. You're right, I'm exhausted too."
"You're telling me! I mean, what's the deal here? I've been on patrol ALL night, lots of times! We're talking from the moment the sun goes down, to the moment it comes back up. That's like, an average of 10 hours on patrol, and I've never been this tired before. When Bruce was training me to be Robin, we'd do 5 hour workouts, INTENSE workouts, with just 10 minute breaks every hour. I've spent days on the job hunting down The Joker or Poison Ivy, but still, none of it can add up. I have NEVER been more exhausted, in my entire life, than I am right now."
Raven laughed, and turned to her lover. "Well, you're the one who insisted on round number FOUR."
Robin blushed as he chuckled a bit. "Is that girlfriend-talk for 'Shut up, you've got nothing to complain about, now go back to sleep'?"
"Yes."
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"Will you hurry up and knock on that door! This is important! We gotta GO!"
"DUDE! I'm not going in there! You heard those two last night! I don't want any part of that! They're probably still all sleepy and...naked!!"
Cyborg sighed. The Titans just got a call in about 4 super villains calling themselves "The Society" going on a rampage through down town Jump City. He sent the alarm out on the Titan communicators, but only Beast Boy and Starfire responded. Now they were standing outside Robin's bedroom, and he was trying to get Beast Boy to knock on the door and wake them up. However, Beast Boy wasn't going down without a fight, and Cyborg was getting tired of wasting time.
"Augh! Forget it! I'LL do it!" He clenched his large, metal fist and pounded on the steel door. "YO! Lovebirds! Do y'all ALWAYS turn off your communicators when you're busy, or is this some kind of new DEVELOPMENT?! Come on! We got a JOB to do! NOW!"
Robin and Raven came rushing out the door, fully dressed in uniform. They both looked irritated, to say the least.
"Give me the run-down Cy. What's the problem?"
"Four super-goons calling themselves 'The Society'"
"Anyone we know?"
"Yeah. Plasmus, Phobia, and Warp seems to be running the outfit. They've also got some newbie with them, guy calling himself Houngan."
Raven growled, "Phobia..."
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"RAAUUGH!!!"
Warp laughed as he heard Plasmus roar. He saw the Titans coming, and he could barely contain his excitement.
"All right Warp! Call off your goons, or be prepared to go DOWN!" Robin knew his battle quips were sort of corny sometimes, but they made him feel braver, they made it easier for him to go fearless into a battle with super- powered villains.
"Well, well, if it isn' Mistah Stone! How ya' dooin' Victah? You don' look so good, mon. What happened, brotha? Have a little...accident?"
Cyborg stared at the figure in front of him. He was dark skinned, and wore a golden mask, with a large red, white, and yellow voodoo headdress. Garish tribal tattoos covered the visible parts of his face, as well as most of his body. He spoke with an accent that was all too familiar to the metal hero.
"Johnny-Loo?!?"
He scoffed. "I always hated 'dat nickname, mon. Mah name is Jean-Louis Droo. But 'dat don' mattah anymore. Now you can call me...HOUNGAN!"
"I'll call you what I've always called you, and that's a LOSER!" Cyborg fired a round of sonic blasts at Houngan, but he was able to dodge them with ease.
Meanwhile, Warp had successfully used Plasmus to draw the attention of the Titans away fro him, as he zeroed in on Starfire. "Greetings, young Tamaran."
Starfire jumped at the sound of the icy voice behind her. She spun around to see that Warp had snuck up on her, and was now directly in front of her.
"Remember me, Titan? Do you remember Warp? You tampered with my reverberator, and because of you, I had to live my entire life again. Although, I suppose I SHOULD thank you. Being able to live my life again, I was able to...correct certain mistakes I made along the way. I am now far more powerful than when last you faced me. Prepare to SUFFER, girl, for this shall not be pleasant..."
"B...but..."
"Oh, I know. You were not the one who directly caused me to revert to infancy, that was the little bird who grew up to become Nightwing. However, if you had not tampered in the first place, and trapped me in the year 2024, none of it would have happened." Warp raised his hand, and with one quick motion, seized Starfire by the neck and lifted her up. "I have waited a long time for this. Longer than you could ever know..."
"Well then get ready to wait longer!"
Warp turned his head to the sound of the voice. It was Robin, he and Beast Boy were standing in front of the fallen form of Plasmus. He was incased in what looked like ice, thanks to Robin's cryro-gernades. Now, the boy wonder had his bo-staff extended and was staring Warp down.
"I am not afraid of you, little boy. Nor am I afraid of what you will become. Do you know why?" Warp smirked. "Because no matter what you may do to me now, I will always have the pleasure of knowing that you died at my hands."
Robin clenched his staff. He knew what Warp was trying to do. Psyche him out, and then strike at him when his guard was dropped. 'Sorry Warp,' thought Robin, 'ain't gonna happen.'
"Oh, yes." Continued Warp, "It was the very first thing I did, come to think of it, after growing back up to my rightful self. Once I had re- acquired all my techno-gadgetry, I hunted you down first. Of course, you were nothing more than a delusional 50 year old man by the time, mind you, but still, it was ever so rewarding to strangle your very last breath out of you." Warp watched as Robin tried his best not to react to what he had just told him. It was one of the most enjoyable things Warp had experienced in quite some time. However, he was so caught up with his tale, that he stopped paying attention to the Tamaran whose throat he held in his right hand.
Starfire's eyes glowed and she cried "NO! YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM!" Twin beams of green energy burst from her eyes and blasted Warp a good 12 feet away, causing him to crash into a parking meter.
As all this chaos was going on in the streets, nearly everyone who was around when the Society attacked had either fled the area, or were hiding out in the many shops. One person in particular, had just stopped by 'Jump City Computers' to make his weekly purchase, when he saw the battle break out. He watched through the window, as the nine super-powered warriors did battle with each other in awe until he realized, 'Hey...wait a minute. I KNOW some of those guys!'
"AZARATH, METRION, XINTHOS!!" Street signs, parking meters, phone booths, even cars, all were glowing black and white and being flung mercilessly at Phobia. "Come and face me, Phobia!" Raven called, "You have caused me such pain...but today is your day of reckoning!
Phobia smirked to herself, 'Oh I don't think so, darling. I don't think so at all.' "You think I showed you pain, little Titan? You have no idea the meaning of the word. I have prepared for you, witch, and the torment you shall experience is like nothing you could ever imagine." Phobia's eyes flashed white, and the light seemed to engulf Raven.
When it receded, Raven looked around. Nothing had changed, the battle still raged on and Phobia was still standing in front of her, grinning like a maniac.
"My goal has been met," she said. "The Society has served their purpose to me, and I no longer need them." With that, she immediately took off running, catching Raven by surprise.
'I don't get it. She's running away! Is it because her powers didn't work? Is that why she's running?' Raven was just about to chase Phobia down, when she remembered there was more to this battle than just her own personal vendetta. However, not wanting Phobia to get away, she decided to just glance out of the side of her eye, to see how the others were doing. What she saw, made her swallow her pride and let Phobia go. Warp and Starfire were trading blasts, and Cyborg was still trying to hit Houngan. Robin, however, was crippled over in pain.
"ROBIN!!"
Houngan laughed as he continued to prod the object in his hand with a large electronic needle. The object, was one of Houngan's voodoo dolls. One that bared a striking resemblance to the Boy Wonder.
Suddenly, the doll glowed black and white, and was ripped from Houngan's hand. As she threw the doll away from its owner, Raven yelled "Cyborg! Now that he's distracted! Get him!"
Houngan was hit square in the chest by one of Cyborg's sonic blasts.
"BOO YA!"
Raven swooped in on the fallen villain and landed in front of him. She grabbed him by his headdress and lifted him up. Before Cyborg could ask her what she was doing, Raven slapped Houngan harshly right across the face.
"Don't you EVER do that again." She cursed, her tone once again icy and chilling. "Not to Robin, not to ANY of my friends." She dropped Houngan and flew over to Robin, who was just now getting to his feet.
"Robin...are you-"
"I'm ok, Rae. Don't worry about me, right now, we have to take Warp down."
Warp watched in horror as the Titans re-grouped themselves to face him. His Society had fallen, and now he was out numbered five to one. "Well, Titans, this has all been quite fun, but I am afraid I must be going. We simply must do this again some time."
And with that, he generated a time portal and teleported away.
"Well," Robin said, "at least we got two of them." As the police took Houngan and Plasmus away, the Titans stood to the side, catching their breath. As they recuperated, the figure that watched them from the computer store approached.
"Long time no see, Vicky. What with Johnny-Loo here too, this is starting to feel like some kind of freaked out reunion or something."
Cyborg turned to see who was talking to him. His eyes lit up when he did. "ERIC?! ERIC FORRESTER!! Damn! What's up my man! It HAS been a long time!" The two embraced, and then Cyborg turned to his teammates. "Guys, this is Eric Forrester. Dude was my room mate back when I was enrolled in Tech school! Eric, these are my friends and teammates, The Teen Titans. This is Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy...and Raven."
Raven stared in disbelief as Cyborg rested his arm on the shoulder of the very same waiter who had ruined her dinner with Robin the night before. "We've met." She spat.
"Awesome! Man, me and Eric were legends back at Jump City Tech, we were the only two guys in our class who didn't graduate."
Beast Boy looked up at his friend. "Dude...you never graduated tech school? Why not?"
Cyborg smiled, "Well, before the accident, I was never really that into all this kinda stuff. It was my parents who kept pushing me academically, they're the ones who enrolled me in that school. All I wanted to do was play sports and make the Olympics. And Eric here, well he didn't graduate because they EXPELLED him!"
Eric laughed, "Yeah, well, apparently that's what happens to you when the school board discovers you're a meta-human who can interface with any computer. They said I was cheating the system and gave me the boot."
"So Eric, you been keeping touch with anyone else from school?"
"As a matter of fact, I just ran into Donna the other day, Vic. Seems like she gave up computers and number crunching as soon as she graduated and now she's some kind of big shot photographer. She just moved back to Jump."
"No kidding?"
"Damn straight. Remember her boyfriend Terry? That college professor she moved in with, and how she was always talking about settling down with him?"
"Yea."
"Well they broke up. So Donna packed up her shit and moved into those new apartments down on 5th street. You should give her a call man, she was way into you back when we were in school."
"Eric, she was going out with Terry back when we were in school."
"Hey man, that TOO." Eric smiled as she slowly turned his attention to the gothic beauty from the night before. "SPEAKING of beautiful women...it sure is good to see YOU again, babe."
This time Robin had had enough. "Look, man, are we going to have some kind of problem here? Back OFF."
"EASY, easy, little man. There's no problem here. We're chill. Look Vic, I gotta head off, but it was good seeing you man. Give me a call some time, I'm listed. Oh, here, take this. It's Donna's number. I'm serious buddy, give the girl a call." He handed a small piece of paper to Cyborg and gave Raven a small wink. "See ya' later pretty lady. Nice to meet you cats, but now I gotta run. Later."
Back at the tower, Raven and Cyborg were having a talk over Cyborg's choice in friends.
"Cyborg, for as long as I've known you, I've always considered you a pretty decent judge of character. Today, all of that was flushed down the toilet."
"Oh c'mon Rae! Forrester ain't THAT bad. He's just a bit..."
"Sleazy? Slimy? Revolting?"
"I was gonna say 'a bit of a player' but deep down, he's good people!"
Raven raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Riiight. And Ron Jeremy's really a well-bred conservative business man."
"Psh. Man, forget this. Rae, you can say what you want, but Eric Forrester was a good friend to me back in the day. Now if you'll excuse me...I have a phone call to make."
"Who are you calling?"
"That's none of your business, friend-hater."
She glared at him.
"Oh, all right. Fine. I'm calling my old friend Donna Troy. I had a pretty big crush on her back when we were in school, so I figure, hey, maybe she'll be free tonight. Maybe we can go catch a dinner and a movie or something."
Raven smiled. "That sounds nice, Cy. I hope she says yes."
"Yeah, me too." With that, he walked out of the room in search of a telephone.
As Raven walked out the other side towards the living room, she noticed she was beginning to get a bit of a headache. Shrugging it off, she smiled as she saw Robin sitting on the couch watching tv.
"You look lonely in here, Wonder Boy. Want some company?"
Robin smiled, "You know I'd never turn that offer down."
Raven levitated herself over to the couch, and gently brought herself down into Robin's lap.
Robin wrapped his arm around her small body, and brushed her hair back with his hand. Looking into Raven's deep, violet eyes, Robin smiled and wished the moment would never end. He pulled his love in for a kiss.
"Rich?"
"Yeah?"
"...Thank you."
Robin tilted his head, "For what, Rae?"
Raven smiled, "For...everything. For being you, for being with me, for being the best thing to ever happen to me in my entire life. You know, for everything."
Robin smiled. It seemed a little silly to him, that the most beautiful and wonderful girl he had ever known was thanking him for their relationship, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he just kissed her again. This time, with much more passion. After a few minutes of making out, Robin asked, "So what do you feel like doing tonight?"
Raven shrugged. "I don't know. Want to just watch a dvd or something?"
"Sure. That sounds great."
"Ok," Raven said, "you pick out a good one, I'll be right back. I have some things I want to put away in my room first."
"Ok. See you when you get back, Rae."
Raven smiled as Robin gave her another tender kiss.
She was almost halfway down the hallway when Raven realized she forgot her book on the couch. The book Robin gave her had quickly become one of her most treasured belongings, and she wanted to put it away, before any kind of unfortunate accident could befall it. Raven turned around and headed back towards the living room, when she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes went wide, and started to fill with tears before her brain could even grasp what was happening.
There was her book, sitting on the couch. Next to it however, was Starfire. Under normal circumstances, Raven would have called to Starfire and asked her to pick up her book. However, since Starfire was straddling Robin, and having her mouth explored by his tongue, Raven was unable to say a word.
As Robin slowly started to open his eyes, he smiled at Raven, the love of his life. Unfortunately, when he opened his eyes, he saw that the smile was not being returned.
"...uhm...Rae? Something wrong?"
Raven glared at the boy wonder, her eyes drilling holes through him. She couldn't believe it. She had just given herself to Robin, body and soul, resulting in the most passionate night of her young life and this was what she got from it.
"Yes, Robin. Something IS wrong. You just called me "Star". Want to explain yourself?"
Robin rested his face in his hand and stared at his girlfriend. 'WHAT did she just say? I did WHAT?' "Rae...what are you talking about?"
"Just now. I said 'Morning, Wonder Boy' and you said 'Morning STAR'." Raven wasn't raising her voice, but her tone had become icy and hard.
Robin groaned. "Awh...Raven...come on. It was just a slip of the tongue! I'm sorry! It's not like I meant anything by it."
"Then why would you say it?"
"It was just out of habit! I was with Star for a year, I said it a lot! Come on, Rae, this isn't a big deal. It's not like I'd call you her name while we were...you know... I was just tired. Last night was...incredible. I've never been this exhausted in my whole life, I was barely awake, and I mumbled the wrong thing. My brain wasn't even awake yet, so it's not like I was thinking about her or anything."
Raven smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. I'm just not really...used to this kind of thing Robin. You're the first person I've ever been with, I guess I still feel kinda...vulnerable sometimes." She sighed, and laid back down in bed. "Lets just go back to sleep. You're right, I'm exhausted too."
"You're telling me! I mean, what's the deal here? I've been on patrol ALL night, lots of times! We're talking from the moment the sun goes down, to the moment it comes back up. That's like, an average of 10 hours on patrol, and I've never been this tired before. When Bruce was training me to be Robin, we'd do 5 hour workouts, INTENSE workouts, with just 10 minute breaks every hour. I've spent days on the job hunting down The Joker or Poison Ivy, but still, none of it can add up. I have NEVER been more exhausted, in my entire life, than I am right now."
Raven laughed, and turned to her lover. "Well, you're the one who insisted on round number FOUR."
Robin blushed as he chuckled a bit. "Is that girlfriend-talk for 'Shut up, you've got nothing to complain about, now go back to sleep'?"
"Yes."
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"Will you hurry up and knock on that door! This is important! We gotta GO!"
"DUDE! I'm not going in there! You heard those two last night! I don't want any part of that! They're probably still all sleepy and...naked!!"
Cyborg sighed. The Titans just got a call in about 4 super villains calling themselves "The Society" going on a rampage through down town Jump City. He sent the alarm out on the Titan communicators, but only Beast Boy and Starfire responded. Now they were standing outside Robin's bedroom, and he was trying to get Beast Boy to knock on the door and wake them up. However, Beast Boy wasn't going down without a fight, and Cyborg was getting tired of wasting time.
"Augh! Forget it! I'LL do it!" He clenched his large, metal fist and pounded on the steel door. "YO! Lovebirds! Do y'all ALWAYS turn off your communicators when you're busy, or is this some kind of new DEVELOPMENT?! Come on! We got a JOB to do! NOW!"
Robin and Raven came rushing out the door, fully dressed in uniform. They both looked irritated, to say the least.
"Give me the run-down Cy. What's the problem?"
"Four super-goons calling themselves 'The Society'"
"Anyone we know?"
"Yeah. Plasmus, Phobia, and Warp seems to be running the outfit. They've also got some newbie with them, guy calling himself Houngan."
Raven growled, "Phobia..."
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"RAAUUGH!!!"
Warp laughed as he heard Plasmus roar. He saw the Titans coming, and he could barely contain his excitement.
"All right Warp! Call off your goons, or be prepared to go DOWN!" Robin knew his battle quips were sort of corny sometimes, but they made him feel braver, they made it easier for him to go fearless into a battle with super- powered villains.
"Well, well, if it isn' Mistah Stone! How ya' dooin' Victah? You don' look so good, mon. What happened, brotha? Have a little...accident?"
Cyborg stared at the figure in front of him. He was dark skinned, and wore a golden mask, with a large red, white, and yellow voodoo headdress. Garish tribal tattoos covered the visible parts of his face, as well as most of his body. He spoke with an accent that was all too familiar to the metal hero.
"Johnny-Loo?!?"
He scoffed. "I always hated 'dat nickname, mon. Mah name is Jean-Louis Droo. But 'dat don' mattah anymore. Now you can call me...HOUNGAN!"
"I'll call you what I've always called you, and that's a LOSER!" Cyborg fired a round of sonic blasts at Houngan, but he was able to dodge them with ease.
Meanwhile, Warp had successfully used Plasmus to draw the attention of the Titans away fro him, as he zeroed in on Starfire. "Greetings, young Tamaran."
Starfire jumped at the sound of the icy voice behind her. She spun around to see that Warp had snuck up on her, and was now directly in front of her.
"Remember me, Titan? Do you remember Warp? You tampered with my reverberator, and because of you, I had to live my entire life again. Although, I suppose I SHOULD thank you. Being able to live my life again, I was able to...correct certain mistakes I made along the way. I am now far more powerful than when last you faced me. Prepare to SUFFER, girl, for this shall not be pleasant..."
"B...but..."
"Oh, I know. You were not the one who directly caused me to revert to infancy, that was the little bird who grew up to become Nightwing. However, if you had not tampered in the first place, and trapped me in the year 2024, none of it would have happened." Warp raised his hand, and with one quick motion, seized Starfire by the neck and lifted her up. "I have waited a long time for this. Longer than you could ever know..."
"Well then get ready to wait longer!"
Warp turned his head to the sound of the voice. It was Robin, he and Beast Boy were standing in front of the fallen form of Plasmus. He was incased in what looked like ice, thanks to Robin's cryro-gernades. Now, the boy wonder had his bo-staff extended and was staring Warp down.
"I am not afraid of you, little boy. Nor am I afraid of what you will become. Do you know why?" Warp smirked. "Because no matter what you may do to me now, I will always have the pleasure of knowing that you died at my hands."
Robin clenched his staff. He knew what Warp was trying to do. Psyche him out, and then strike at him when his guard was dropped. 'Sorry Warp,' thought Robin, 'ain't gonna happen.'
"Oh, yes." Continued Warp, "It was the very first thing I did, come to think of it, after growing back up to my rightful self. Once I had re- acquired all my techno-gadgetry, I hunted you down first. Of course, you were nothing more than a delusional 50 year old man by the time, mind you, but still, it was ever so rewarding to strangle your very last breath out of you." Warp watched as Robin tried his best not to react to what he had just told him. It was one of the most enjoyable things Warp had experienced in quite some time. However, he was so caught up with his tale, that he stopped paying attention to the Tamaran whose throat he held in his right hand.
Starfire's eyes glowed and she cried "NO! YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM!" Twin beams of green energy burst from her eyes and blasted Warp a good 12 feet away, causing him to crash into a parking meter.
As all this chaos was going on in the streets, nearly everyone who was around when the Society attacked had either fled the area, or were hiding out in the many shops. One person in particular, had just stopped by 'Jump City Computers' to make his weekly purchase, when he saw the battle break out. He watched through the window, as the nine super-powered warriors did battle with each other in awe until he realized, 'Hey...wait a minute. I KNOW some of those guys!'
"AZARATH, METRION, XINTHOS!!" Street signs, parking meters, phone booths, even cars, all were glowing black and white and being flung mercilessly at Phobia. "Come and face me, Phobia!" Raven called, "You have caused me such pain...but today is your day of reckoning!
Phobia smirked to herself, 'Oh I don't think so, darling. I don't think so at all.' "You think I showed you pain, little Titan? You have no idea the meaning of the word. I have prepared for you, witch, and the torment you shall experience is like nothing you could ever imagine." Phobia's eyes flashed white, and the light seemed to engulf Raven.
When it receded, Raven looked around. Nothing had changed, the battle still raged on and Phobia was still standing in front of her, grinning like a maniac.
"My goal has been met," she said. "The Society has served their purpose to me, and I no longer need them." With that, she immediately took off running, catching Raven by surprise.
'I don't get it. She's running away! Is it because her powers didn't work? Is that why she's running?' Raven was just about to chase Phobia down, when she remembered there was more to this battle than just her own personal vendetta. However, not wanting Phobia to get away, she decided to just glance out of the side of her eye, to see how the others were doing. What she saw, made her swallow her pride and let Phobia go. Warp and Starfire were trading blasts, and Cyborg was still trying to hit Houngan. Robin, however, was crippled over in pain.
"ROBIN!!"
Houngan laughed as he continued to prod the object in his hand with a large electronic needle. The object, was one of Houngan's voodoo dolls. One that bared a striking resemblance to the Boy Wonder.
Suddenly, the doll glowed black and white, and was ripped from Houngan's hand. As she threw the doll away from its owner, Raven yelled "Cyborg! Now that he's distracted! Get him!"
Houngan was hit square in the chest by one of Cyborg's sonic blasts.
"BOO YA!"
Raven swooped in on the fallen villain and landed in front of him. She grabbed him by his headdress and lifted him up. Before Cyborg could ask her what she was doing, Raven slapped Houngan harshly right across the face.
"Don't you EVER do that again." She cursed, her tone once again icy and chilling. "Not to Robin, not to ANY of my friends." She dropped Houngan and flew over to Robin, who was just now getting to his feet.
"Robin...are you-"
"I'm ok, Rae. Don't worry about me, right now, we have to take Warp down."
Warp watched in horror as the Titans re-grouped themselves to face him. His Society had fallen, and now he was out numbered five to one. "Well, Titans, this has all been quite fun, but I am afraid I must be going. We simply must do this again some time."
And with that, he generated a time portal and teleported away.
"Well," Robin said, "at least we got two of them." As the police took Houngan and Plasmus away, the Titans stood to the side, catching their breath. As they recuperated, the figure that watched them from the computer store approached.
"Long time no see, Vicky. What with Johnny-Loo here too, this is starting to feel like some kind of freaked out reunion or something."
Cyborg turned to see who was talking to him. His eyes lit up when he did. "ERIC?! ERIC FORRESTER!! Damn! What's up my man! It HAS been a long time!" The two embraced, and then Cyborg turned to his teammates. "Guys, this is Eric Forrester. Dude was my room mate back when I was enrolled in Tech school! Eric, these are my friends and teammates, The Teen Titans. This is Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy...and Raven."
Raven stared in disbelief as Cyborg rested his arm on the shoulder of the very same waiter who had ruined her dinner with Robin the night before. "We've met." She spat.
"Awesome! Man, me and Eric were legends back at Jump City Tech, we were the only two guys in our class who didn't graduate."
Beast Boy looked up at his friend. "Dude...you never graduated tech school? Why not?"
Cyborg smiled, "Well, before the accident, I was never really that into all this kinda stuff. It was my parents who kept pushing me academically, they're the ones who enrolled me in that school. All I wanted to do was play sports and make the Olympics. And Eric here, well he didn't graduate because they EXPELLED him!"
Eric laughed, "Yeah, well, apparently that's what happens to you when the school board discovers you're a meta-human who can interface with any computer. They said I was cheating the system and gave me the boot."
"So Eric, you been keeping touch with anyone else from school?"
"As a matter of fact, I just ran into Donna the other day, Vic. Seems like she gave up computers and number crunching as soon as she graduated and now she's some kind of big shot photographer. She just moved back to Jump."
"No kidding?"
"Damn straight. Remember her boyfriend Terry? That college professor she moved in with, and how she was always talking about settling down with him?"
"Yea."
"Well they broke up. So Donna packed up her shit and moved into those new apartments down on 5th street. You should give her a call man, she was way into you back when we were in school."
"Eric, she was going out with Terry back when we were in school."
"Hey man, that TOO." Eric smiled as she slowly turned his attention to the gothic beauty from the night before. "SPEAKING of beautiful women...it sure is good to see YOU again, babe."
This time Robin had had enough. "Look, man, are we going to have some kind of problem here? Back OFF."
"EASY, easy, little man. There's no problem here. We're chill. Look Vic, I gotta head off, but it was good seeing you man. Give me a call some time, I'm listed. Oh, here, take this. It's Donna's number. I'm serious buddy, give the girl a call." He handed a small piece of paper to Cyborg and gave Raven a small wink. "See ya' later pretty lady. Nice to meet you cats, but now I gotta run. Later."
Back at the tower, Raven and Cyborg were having a talk over Cyborg's choice in friends.
"Cyborg, for as long as I've known you, I've always considered you a pretty decent judge of character. Today, all of that was flushed down the toilet."
"Oh c'mon Rae! Forrester ain't THAT bad. He's just a bit..."
"Sleazy? Slimy? Revolting?"
"I was gonna say 'a bit of a player' but deep down, he's good people!"
Raven raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Riiight. And Ron Jeremy's really a well-bred conservative business man."
"Psh. Man, forget this. Rae, you can say what you want, but Eric Forrester was a good friend to me back in the day. Now if you'll excuse me...I have a phone call to make."
"Who are you calling?"
"That's none of your business, friend-hater."
She glared at him.
"Oh, all right. Fine. I'm calling my old friend Donna Troy. I had a pretty big crush on her back when we were in school, so I figure, hey, maybe she'll be free tonight. Maybe we can go catch a dinner and a movie or something."
Raven smiled. "That sounds nice, Cy. I hope she says yes."
"Yeah, me too." With that, he walked out of the room in search of a telephone.
As Raven walked out the other side towards the living room, she noticed she was beginning to get a bit of a headache. Shrugging it off, she smiled as she saw Robin sitting on the couch watching tv.
"You look lonely in here, Wonder Boy. Want some company?"
Robin smiled, "You know I'd never turn that offer down."
Raven levitated herself over to the couch, and gently brought herself down into Robin's lap.
Robin wrapped his arm around her small body, and brushed her hair back with his hand. Looking into Raven's deep, violet eyes, Robin smiled and wished the moment would never end. He pulled his love in for a kiss.
"Rich?"
"Yeah?"
"...Thank you."
Robin tilted his head, "For what, Rae?"
Raven smiled, "For...everything. For being you, for being with me, for being the best thing to ever happen to me in my entire life. You know, for everything."
Robin smiled. It seemed a little silly to him, that the most beautiful and wonderful girl he had ever known was thanking him for their relationship, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he just kissed her again. This time, with much more passion. After a few minutes of making out, Robin asked, "So what do you feel like doing tonight?"
Raven shrugged. "I don't know. Want to just watch a dvd or something?"
"Sure. That sounds great."
"Ok," Raven said, "you pick out a good one, I'll be right back. I have some things I want to put away in my room first."
"Ok. See you when you get back, Rae."
Raven smiled as Robin gave her another tender kiss.
She was almost halfway down the hallway when Raven realized she forgot her book on the couch. The book Robin gave her had quickly become one of her most treasured belongings, and she wanted to put it away, before any kind of unfortunate accident could befall it. Raven turned around and headed back towards the living room, when she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes went wide, and started to fill with tears before her brain could even grasp what was happening.
There was her book, sitting on the couch. Next to it however, was Starfire. Under normal circumstances, Raven would have called to Starfire and asked her to pick up her book. However, since Starfire was straddling Robin, and having her mouth explored by his tongue, Raven was unable to say a word.