Chapter 12: Invocation
As Saturday sun glimmered in the window of her bedroom, Starfire sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. It was once again Saturday and it had been three weeks since the party that had changed the dynamics of their team forever. It occurred to her that as hard as they had tried, the Titans still had no leads on the young man who had attacked Raven.
Starfire stood up and went to the center of her room, standing precisely where the sun had the most effect on her. She absorbed the new sunshine and her body began to shimmer with warmth and power. Taking a slow, deliberate breath, Starfire began to recite the ancient words of her people. Peace-loving, passionate, devoted, spirited people, bent on creating the perfect tropical paradise; even the Tamaraneans had to have a way to deal with those who broke their laws. Here in the light of an alien sun, this single Tamaranean lifted her hands to the sun, cradling its shape between her elegant hands as she chanted words that her teammates could never have understood. Still glowing with ethereal light, Starfire spoke, "X'Hal give me strength. In your mercy hear the cries of your servant. Lend to me your swiftness, your cleverness, and your strength that I might defend Raven, my sister. Wrongs have been committed against her that cannot go unpunished. Grant me the power to bring this awful person to justice. Mother of our world, protect me and grant me peace when my mission is done." With this, the sun went behind a cloud, and Starfire's skin absorbed the light, returning to its original state. Without stopping for breakfast and without speaking to the others, Starfire left the Tower and soared gracefully into the sky. It had been her custom for some time to go for an early morning flight on Saturdays, so she knew that the others would not worry if one of them chanced to see her. Gentle and sweet as she usually appeared, the expression that Starfire of Tamaran wore today would have terrified even the stoutest of opponents.
Stretching and opening her dark blue eyes, Raven carefully extracted herself from Beast Boy's embrace so as not to wake him. She tiptoed into the kitchen and used her telekinesis to collect what she needed to make breakfast. Ten minutes later, three frying pans were sizzling on the stove and still Raven continued to multi-task by using her mental capabilities to set the table. The smell of eggs and bacon brought Cyborg and Robin shuffling into the kitchen still stretching and yawning. Cyborg stopped short in the doorway and his eyes grew wide.
"Raven? Is everything okay?" Cyborg asked. Raven looked up from the steaming pan of tofu eggs with the same wide eyed look and said, "Yeah...why?" Robin tilted his head slightly to one side and grinned as he raised an eyebrow.
"You're making breakfast, Raven. You never make breakfast," Robin replied, folding his arms over his chest and still smiling like a Cheshire cat. Raven blushed and smiled.
"You're not just making breakfast..." Cyborg added, sniffing the air. "You're making tofu eggs. There's only one person in this Tower that eats Tofu and you've never in Titans history gone out of your way to accommodate him."
"So," Raven said, avoiding their eyes. "I just didn't want him whining that we were having actual animal products for a meal." She was trying to sound serious but it wasn't working. Robin came closer, whistling a happy tune as he took orange juice and milk from the refrigerator. Raven's eyes narrowed. She could just about...
"Raven and Beast Boy sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n..."
"Unless you want this spatula up your sub processor, I suggest you stop that right now," Raven threatened, still blushing furiously. Cyborg simply smiled, dished up his eggs and bacon, and ruffled her hair as he walked by. Before Raven could throw the nearest pan, She felt a pair of arms around her waist and a kiss on her cheek.
"You made Tofu? For me?" Beast Boy squealed. He dished up the whole pan and whistled merrily as he sat down at the table. Raven shook her head as she started on a plate of her own.
"Where's Starfire this morning?" Raven asked.
"Maybe she's still out buzzing the horizon line. Y'know she always goes for a morning flight on Saturday," said Cyborg between gulps of milk. The others nodded. They would give her a little more time before they thought about worrying.
Starfire flew over the city, gathering her energy for the task ahead. She knew from Raven's description what the man had looked like but looking for one young man in a large city was like trying to locate a snorkbat in a hill of sand. She decided to begin her search with the club and the café.
"I'm going after her. There must be something wrong. She's usually back by now," Raven said, straightening her cloak around her shoulders.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Robin offered.
"For the last time, I'm fine," Raven replied, trying to remember that they were only trying to help.
"But she could be trying to do that Rite she was talking about before!" Beast Boy cried.
"What are you talking about?" Raven asked. The boys explained the ancient rite of familiar protection to her and her eyes grew wide.
"No..." she whispered. "Oh, Starfire! She went alone! Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" Raven disappeared in a flash of black energy, leaving the boys bewildered in the middle of the kitchen floor.
"Dude, I hate it when she does that," Beast Boy muttered. The boys ran for the T-Car.
Raven melted up out of the sidewalk just three blocks behind Starfire. Sighing with relief, she called out to her, but Starfire appeared not to hear. Starfire stopped ahead of her and Raven could hear people running and several screams. There was a crash and when Raven got to the top of the hill, she saw something she would never forget: Starfire, her eyes burning with anger, a ball of sparkling green energy focused at a young man looking up at her from the rubble of the bike rack he had been standing beside.
"Starfire, no!" Raven shouted, catching up to them.
"Stay back, friend Raven, I will make certain that this monster hurts no one ever again!" Starfire growled.
"He's not worth it, Star!" Raven cried.
"This is the man that hurt you, correct?" Starfire continues, blatantly ignoring her. Raven crept closer and then gasped as her heartbeat doubled. The young man stood and suddenly took hold of Raven by the shoulders.
"Man, would I love a crack at you with your eyes open!" he growled, looking into Raven's eyes with undisguised lust in his gaze. Raven squirmed in his grip and then cried out as her powerful energy bolts left her hands. The young man when sailing across the street and slammed into the nearest building.
"Your friend, the red head, is she with anybody? She looks like fun too," the boy continued, despite the fact that both girls were now bearing down on him. Raven's eyes glowed bright red and her voice turned to a frightening, deep, gravely growl.
"You took something from me I can never get back!" she screamed.
Before the girls could hand down the retribution that they were so ready to give, they heard the familiar, ear-splitting shriek of Beast Boy's hawk form crack the air. The boys had caught up with them, and now in addition to the girls, the offending young man had Cyborg's plasma cannon, Robin's bird-a-rang and whatever massive creature Beast Boy could dream up to worry about.
"Wait! It's not going to make you feel any better to kill him!" Robin shouted.
"Watch me!" shouted Raven.
"He must be punished severely for what he has done to Raven!" Starfire added. Cyborg got out of the T-Car, his cannon still trained on the black clad attacker.
"Y'know, Rob, I think I'm gonna have to go with the girls on this one. He didn't just attack Raven; he did it like a coward. He knew that under any normal circumstances she could have kicked his sorry butt so he drugged her. Cowards don't deserve a second chance," Cyborg growled.
"It won't help!" Robin screamed. "Titans, fall back! We'll call the authorities and he can be locked up like the criminal he is!" The others didn't move. Beast Boy chose the guise of a Velociraptor and lowered his massive head, jam packed with long sharp teeth, to focus on the man that had raped his girlfriend. The teeth dripped with saliva as Beast Boy tried to control the powerful hunting and feeding instinct of this dinosaur. Robin took advantage of their hesitation and alerted the authorities.
"I said fall back!" Robin repeated, beginning to fear this small rebellion in his team. The four Titans didn't move until the police came and retrieved the man and he was incarcerated. When the police van drove away, Raven sank out of the air and to her knees on the ground, hugging her shoulders against the wind of the day. Starfire touched down behind her and knelt to embrace her, wrapping her arms securely around Raven's shoulders. Raven wasn't crying, but she appeared to express a mixture of relief and sadness. Beast Boy joined them, encircling the girls in his own embrace as best he could. Cyborg and Robin were close behind, both of them kneeling with their teammates.
"It wouldn't have helped if you had killed him," Robin said softly. "I know. My parents were murdered when I was six years old. I had never been so angry in my life, but training with Batman taught me that even though I'm angry, killing someone, even if it's the person responsible, won't make the pain go away. It won't make it any different. It would just make me a murderer," Robin explained. He hung his head as the team watched him. His shoulders started to shake as he covered his eyes with one hand and cried. Raven gently pulled herself from the arms of Starfire and Beast Boy and leaned forward, catching their fearless leader in her arms. With this, the embrace folded back together, and even Cyborg couldn't resist being the last piece of the puzzle and held them all in his massive arms.
It was finally over.