Chapter 4: The Raven
The smell of waffles filled the kitchen air as many a Titan ate to their heart's content. Beastboy had accelerated the process by turning into a hog and ate on a plate placed on the floor; it became apparent that he had not eaten dinner the night before. After all, today was the day after Valentines Day, making yesterday February 14th, the day of love. Beastboy was mighty preoccupied with Terra, making it all too obvious (even more-so) that he loves her. He spent the entire prior night trying to plan for the perfect day, but it all went up in smoke, like all of Beastboy's plans. That aside, he would still vouch that it was one of the best days of his life.
Terra, even though being the star of Beastboy's day, ate well day prior but regardless she ate as hearty as Beastboy himself. Robin and Starfire sat adjacent to each other, eating well but not as atrociously as the other two lovers. Raven had left the room with a headache, and Jim therefore sat without her opposite Robin and Star and next to Beastboy. When the waffles were gone, Jim got up and quickly made another batch to a hungry foursome, all ready for seconds.
Mid-waffle, Jim heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. He finished what was left of his waffle quickly and got up. He walked hastily towards the waffle iron, and poured batter into it, making sure it was a good waffle. Raven walked into the kitchen, and while doing so Jim rested his body weight upon his left arm as he leaned against the kitchen counter. He said with a not particularly apologetic tone, "Hey Raven, I heard you comin' and I had forgotten about your waffle, so I'm makin' it now. Sorry." He looked at Raven, expecting an OK from her, but instead found that her face was grim. "Something wrong?"
"Don't worry about the Waffle, Cy. Everyone, to the com room." She gave a swift pivot upon her left foot and turned herself around and walked determinedly towards her destination. Everyone else in the room gave a puzzled look to each other as they all reluctantly followed suit.
The Titans and Jim all filled in and stood behind Raven. In semi unison, they stepped backward as Raven turned herself around to announce something. Her eyes were meaningful, her fist was clenched, and her chest held high with a breath underneath it. She gave a heaving sigh, and then said, "Titans. We will be having company soon." She trailed off with an imaginary "trouble" that everyone understood. "I have sensed the coming of a new evil, possibly old Slade followers. I have checked our cameras to confirm my suspicion. In doing so I have located them here," she paused in her speech to point to the map displayed on the screen. She pointed out that they were 2o miles inland of Jump City. "They seem to be nothing more than thugs, but they have possession of nuclear weaponry. Your job is to neutralize the threat. They are currently stopped for whatever reasons at the abandoned sulfur mine. Any questions?"
The rigid formality the meetings had become was Raven's own idea. One of the things Robin did, she noticed, was that sometimes he didn't make everything crystal clear, a priority Raven held up more than Robin. Another reason was that there simply wasn't much trouble for the past few months, and even Beastboy welcomed the shift from goofing around and feeling like there was nothing to do to hard-line work and importance. Jim asked a question, "Will you be coming with us, Raven?"
Raven looked at Jim funny for a moment, and then said, "No. This job is small enough for the remaining Titans to handle. I have a terrible headache. Give me a call if you need help for whatever reason. Titans -" She paused for a moment, holding her head. "-Move out!" She finished.
"You never were as good as me at that." Said Robin as he ran past Raven. Starfire flew over Raven, and beastboy and Terra ran after Robin. Jim stayed behind. "Are you alright...?" Jim seemed to be the only one who noticed Raven's small stagger during her speech.
"Jim... I may be... going away for a while."
"What? What are you talking about?" Jim's face, already filled with concerned, deepened so. "You're not goin' away like you did before, are you?"
"Maybe... but I don't think I'll be gone all that long, if I even leave." She stared at her boots while she was talking to him. Jim's heart leapt out of his chest; 'what was going on?,' he thought. "Now go, the others are waiting for you. I'm going to go get a glass of water." Jim didn't move. "That's an order, Jim!"
Jim didn't have much of a choice. He ran off towards the others, looking back every so often. 'What was Raven doing?,' he thought. The last time she left... Jim entered another memory...
The robotic guards lay broken on the ground in the Titans' wake. Robin, their leader at the time, looked ferocious and angry. It was not a new enemy as they had thought - it was Slade. Robin's dark past was not hidden from this encounter, as it was clear to the rest of the titans just how much anger he had in him. Slade stood upon a balcony out of their reach in an abandoned opera house as the titans stood on the actual stage, something that Slade found humorous and fitting. Everyone's eyes were focused on Slade's dark and evil mask, and his usual monologue after his minion's defeat. He clapped sarcastically while saying, "Well done, Robin. You never seize to amaze me." Robin bit his lip so hard it began to bleed. Starfire shifted her attention to Robin, but did not say anything. "It seems that there is nothing I can do to stop you. And if I stopped Robin, whose to say Red X wouldn't be born again."
He had hit a nerve. Clearly and angrily, Robin said, "Red X is part of my ugly past, along with you."
"But here I stand before you, in the present! No, you cannot get rid of me, Robin. Even if I were to die, the very bowls of hell would reject me so that I might again show my wrath to you. In the meantime, I'll try to send you there, first!" Slade pulled out what looked like a remote control, black with a single also black button. He pushed it and pointed it towards Robin.
Suddenly, Robin began to scream in excruciating pain. It was unbearable to the titans. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Cyborg yelled.
"Concerned for your friend? You should be. What I have pressed has activated small nano chips inside Robin, around his lungs. He didn't realize I had slipped them in when I fed him while he was my... pupil. His lungs are collapsing as we speak."
"It hurt, yes..." Said Robin suddenly. He was up and seemed to be in no more pain. "But it didn't work."
Totally unsuspecting, Slade took a step backward in astonishment. His eyes were wide. "What!?"
Raven at that moment fell to the ground for a fourth time. Beastboy was the first to speak. "Raven... what's going on here...?"
Raven had rooted herself to the ground with her palms and knees. Strange, satanic noises started to come from her growling self. "I... don't know...!" She said in a very distorted manner, voice ranging 7 octaves too low. Her clothes suddenly ripped open and her skin turned completely black. She let out a screech a harpy would have been envious of, and as the scream went on, it turned into a deep, inhumane cry. Her feet became huge, dark and featureless. He torso and arms bulged with pure terrible power as it grew and grew. Large, dark wings resembling those of gargoyles sprung into existence from her bare back, and skyrocketed towards the tall ceiling. Her face soon became completely featureless and black, and large horns grew from her forehead, twisted slightly away from herself. Pointed, black ears that shot toward the sky replaced her soft ears. Her entire body spontaneously grew and the remaining titans jumped out of the way towards the audience seating. Her hands, too, changed from humanoid to almost mole-like, with claws and only 4 fingers. The last of her rags fell off as she became a huge, genderless demon that instilled pure fear into a beholder, complete with a dark fog surrounding her base and crimson red eyes. During the transformation, her scream had turned into a cry and then finally, a roar. As her transformation completed, her wings grew feathers resembling a raven, and her chest formed a decoration with the fallen wings of the black bird in red, all within a light black circle. Her forehead, in between her newly grown horns, grew a similar symbol in red and black. Her mouth had grown two huge, white fangs.
The mighty Raven stood now at a staggering 18 feet high in front of Slade and the rest of the titans, all of whom were scared beyond words or thoughts. Her roar finally ended after what seemed to be an eternity, and when it died a barely audible sound of roaring flames emitted from the black cloud that covered her lower body. She stood completely still, staring directly at Slade up on the balcony of the abandoned opera house.
"It wasn't about Robin..." Slade quickly turned around in pure fear and began to run for his own, worthless life, but the Raven was ruthless and angry. With one sweep of her left, giant hand, she swept up Slade and torqued backwards, slightly hovering, and went into the audience, but not enough to be stepping on the seats, and through Slade upon the stage and through it. A giant CRASH sounded as the titans moved away from Raven and towards the exits, and a new hole was seen in the stage where Slade had been thrown in. The Raven reorganized herself and stood toe-to-toe while looking at the hole. As if by her own demonic will, the Raven lifted Slade out of the hole without using her arms or hands, as if Slade was only a marionette controlled by its puppet master by strings. Slade was barely conscious, barely breathing, barely alive. His left arm had been ripped off by the force of Raven's throw, and was bleeding massively. His garment was torn apart, but his mask was not off, as it seemed to be held there by glue. He cried out in agony, "God damn it, it wasn't about Robin!"
The Raven looked at Slade's floating body, and in a huge, absolute terrifying voice said, "Die." The Raven took her left hand and sliced directly through Slade's body, long diagonally from his left shoulder to right above his right thigh. Huge fountains of blood shot out and covered the Raven's symbol upon her chest and her demonic face. Slade's two parts fell to the left and right of where he was annihilated, and it made a terrible thud as it hit the stage. The Raven's claw dripped with his blood. Satisfied, she roared a terrible roar, and the ceiling began to collapse from its awesome might. Robin yelled, "Titans! We have to get out of here!" No one moved, as they were still in awe of Raven's absolute power. "Titans! The roof is collapsing! We have to live!" Magically, the Titan's snapped into it and ran out the exit, lead by Robin. On the way out, the mighty flaps of The Raven's wings could be heard.
The titans were now safe from immediate danger outside of the Collapsing Opera house. It did just that in one might rumble, and above the dust of the rubble soared in the sky a gigantic Raven heading in the opposite direction towards the just barely up blood red sun.
It was on that day that Robin resigned as leader. We were nearly out of the crime fighting business, Jim thought, with no leader and a member missing. It took Raven four long months to come back home, to the titans and the tower. And another year to stop fearing her.
When Raven talked about going away... did she mean she was going away like that again? Jim wondered and feared as the titans head off towards their destination and mission and away from what concerned him the most.
The smell of waffles filled the kitchen air as many a Titan ate to their heart's content. Beastboy had accelerated the process by turning into a hog and ate on a plate placed on the floor; it became apparent that he had not eaten dinner the night before. After all, today was the day after Valentines Day, making yesterday February 14th, the day of love. Beastboy was mighty preoccupied with Terra, making it all too obvious (even more-so) that he loves her. He spent the entire prior night trying to plan for the perfect day, but it all went up in smoke, like all of Beastboy's plans. That aside, he would still vouch that it was one of the best days of his life.
Terra, even though being the star of Beastboy's day, ate well day prior but regardless she ate as hearty as Beastboy himself. Robin and Starfire sat adjacent to each other, eating well but not as atrociously as the other two lovers. Raven had left the room with a headache, and Jim therefore sat without her opposite Robin and Star and next to Beastboy. When the waffles were gone, Jim got up and quickly made another batch to a hungry foursome, all ready for seconds.
Mid-waffle, Jim heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. He finished what was left of his waffle quickly and got up. He walked hastily towards the waffle iron, and poured batter into it, making sure it was a good waffle. Raven walked into the kitchen, and while doing so Jim rested his body weight upon his left arm as he leaned against the kitchen counter. He said with a not particularly apologetic tone, "Hey Raven, I heard you comin' and I had forgotten about your waffle, so I'm makin' it now. Sorry." He looked at Raven, expecting an OK from her, but instead found that her face was grim. "Something wrong?"
"Don't worry about the Waffle, Cy. Everyone, to the com room." She gave a swift pivot upon her left foot and turned herself around and walked determinedly towards her destination. Everyone else in the room gave a puzzled look to each other as they all reluctantly followed suit.
The Titans and Jim all filled in and stood behind Raven. In semi unison, they stepped backward as Raven turned herself around to announce something. Her eyes were meaningful, her fist was clenched, and her chest held high with a breath underneath it. She gave a heaving sigh, and then said, "Titans. We will be having company soon." She trailed off with an imaginary "trouble" that everyone understood. "I have sensed the coming of a new evil, possibly old Slade followers. I have checked our cameras to confirm my suspicion. In doing so I have located them here," she paused in her speech to point to the map displayed on the screen. She pointed out that they were 2o miles inland of Jump City. "They seem to be nothing more than thugs, but they have possession of nuclear weaponry. Your job is to neutralize the threat. They are currently stopped for whatever reasons at the abandoned sulfur mine. Any questions?"
The rigid formality the meetings had become was Raven's own idea. One of the things Robin did, she noticed, was that sometimes he didn't make everything crystal clear, a priority Raven held up more than Robin. Another reason was that there simply wasn't much trouble for the past few months, and even Beastboy welcomed the shift from goofing around and feeling like there was nothing to do to hard-line work and importance. Jim asked a question, "Will you be coming with us, Raven?"
Raven looked at Jim funny for a moment, and then said, "No. This job is small enough for the remaining Titans to handle. I have a terrible headache. Give me a call if you need help for whatever reason. Titans -" She paused for a moment, holding her head. "-Move out!" She finished.
"You never were as good as me at that." Said Robin as he ran past Raven. Starfire flew over Raven, and beastboy and Terra ran after Robin. Jim stayed behind. "Are you alright...?" Jim seemed to be the only one who noticed Raven's small stagger during her speech.
"Jim... I may be... going away for a while."
"What? What are you talking about?" Jim's face, already filled with concerned, deepened so. "You're not goin' away like you did before, are you?"
"Maybe... but I don't think I'll be gone all that long, if I even leave." She stared at her boots while she was talking to him. Jim's heart leapt out of his chest; 'what was going on?,' he thought. "Now go, the others are waiting for you. I'm going to go get a glass of water." Jim didn't move. "That's an order, Jim!"
Jim didn't have much of a choice. He ran off towards the others, looking back every so often. 'What was Raven doing?,' he thought. The last time she left... Jim entered another memory...
The robotic guards lay broken on the ground in the Titans' wake. Robin, their leader at the time, looked ferocious and angry. It was not a new enemy as they had thought - it was Slade. Robin's dark past was not hidden from this encounter, as it was clear to the rest of the titans just how much anger he had in him. Slade stood upon a balcony out of their reach in an abandoned opera house as the titans stood on the actual stage, something that Slade found humorous and fitting. Everyone's eyes were focused on Slade's dark and evil mask, and his usual monologue after his minion's defeat. He clapped sarcastically while saying, "Well done, Robin. You never seize to amaze me." Robin bit his lip so hard it began to bleed. Starfire shifted her attention to Robin, but did not say anything. "It seems that there is nothing I can do to stop you. And if I stopped Robin, whose to say Red X wouldn't be born again."
He had hit a nerve. Clearly and angrily, Robin said, "Red X is part of my ugly past, along with you."
"But here I stand before you, in the present! No, you cannot get rid of me, Robin. Even if I were to die, the very bowls of hell would reject me so that I might again show my wrath to you. In the meantime, I'll try to send you there, first!" Slade pulled out what looked like a remote control, black with a single also black button. He pushed it and pointed it towards Robin.
Suddenly, Robin began to scream in excruciating pain. It was unbearable to the titans. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Cyborg yelled.
"Concerned for your friend? You should be. What I have pressed has activated small nano chips inside Robin, around his lungs. He didn't realize I had slipped them in when I fed him while he was my... pupil. His lungs are collapsing as we speak."
"It hurt, yes..." Said Robin suddenly. He was up and seemed to be in no more pain. "But it didn't work."
Totally unsuspecting, Slade took a step backward in astonishment. His eyes were wide. "What!?"
Raven at that moment fell to the ground for a fourth time. Beastboy was the first to speak. "Raven... what's going on here...?"
Raven had rooted herself to the ground with her palms and knees. Strange, satanic noises started to come from her growling self. "I... don't know...!" She said in a very distorted manner, voice ranging 7 octaves too low. Her clothes suddenly ripped open and her skin turned completely black. She let out a screech a harpy would have been envious of, and as the scream went on, it turned into a deep, inhumane cry. Her feet became huge, dark and featureless. He torso and arms bulged with pure terrible power as it grew and grew. Large, dark wings resembling those of gargoyles sprung into existence from her bare back, and skyrocketed towards the tall ceiling. Her face soon became completely featureless and black, and large horns grew from her forehead, twisted slightly away from herself. Pointed, black ears that shot toward the sky replaced her soft ears. Her entire body spontaneously grew and the remaining titans jumped out of the way towards the audience seating. Her hands, too, changed from humanoid to almost mole-like, with claws and only 4 fingers. The last of her rags fell off as she became a huge, genderless demon that instilled pure fear into a beholder, complete with a dark fog surrounding her base and crimson red eyes. During the transformation, her scream had turned into a cry and then finally, a roar. As her transformation completed, her wings grew feathers resembling a raven, and her chest formed a decoration with the fallen wings of the black bird in red, all within a light black circle. Her forehead, in between her newly grown horns, grew a similar symbol in red and black. Her mouth had grown two huge, white fangs.
The mighty Raven stood now at a staggering 18 feet high in front of Slade and the rest of the titans, all of whom were scared beyond words or thoughts. Her roar finally ended after what seemed to be an eternity, and when it died a barely audible sound of roaring flames emitted from the black cloud that covered her lower body. She stood completely still, staring directly at Slade up on the balcony of the abandoned opera house.
"It wasn't about Robin..." Slade quickly turned around in pure fear and began to run for his own, worthless life, but the Raven was ruthless and angry. With one sweep of her left, giant hand, she swept up Slade and torqued backwards, slightly hovering, and went into the audience, but not enough to be stepping on the seats, and through Slade upon the stage and through it. A giant CRASH sounded as the titans moved away from Raven and towards the exits, and a new hole was seen in the stage where Slade had been thrown in. The Raven reorganized herself and stood toe-to-toe while looking at the hole. As if by her own demonic will, the Raven lifted Slade out of the hole without using her arms or hands, as if Slade was only a marionette controlled by its puppet master by strings. Slade was barely conscious, barely breathing, barely alive. His left arm had been ripped off by the force of Raven's throw, and was bleeding massively. His garment was torn apart, but his mask was not off, as it seemed to be held there by glue. He cried out in agony, "God damn it, it wasn't about Robin!"
The Raven looked at Slade's floating body, and in a huge, absolute terrifying voice said, "Die." The Raven took her left hand and sliced directly through Slade's body, long diagonally from his left shoulder to right above his right thigh. Huge fountains of blood shot out and covered the Raven's symbol upon her chest and her demonic face. Slade's two parts fell to the left and right of where he was annihilated, and it made a terrible thud as it hit the stage. The Raven's claw dripped with his blood. Satisfied, she roared a terrible roar, and the ceiling began to collapse from its awesome might. Robin yelled, "Titans! We have to get out of here!" No one moved, as they were still in awe of Raven's absolute power. "Titans! The roof is collapsing! We have to live!" Magically, the Titan's snapped into it and ran out the exit, lead by Robin. On the way out, the mighty flaps of The Raven's wings could be heard.
The titans were now safe from immediate danger outside of the Collapsing Opera house. It did just that in one might rumble, and above the dust of the rubble soared in the sky a gigantic Raven heading in the opposite direction towards the just barely up blood red sun.
It was on that day that Robin resigned as leader. We were nearly out of the crime fighting business, Jim thought, with no leader and a member missing. It took Raven four long months to come back home, to the titans and the tower. And another year to stop fearing her.
When Raven talked about going away... did she mean she was going away like that again? Jim wondered and feared as the titans head off towards their destination and mission and away from what concerned him the most.